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KEOKtJIv COUNTY 

THE IIOAlii OF THE KEOKUKS 



Cai^ E. Miller, 

COUNTY SUPERINTENDEXT 



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ivEOiitTK— Aisr Early ICAVA Settler 



SiaOURNEV, IO>V^A, 

1903 AND1904 



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TO THE KEOKUKS, THEIR PARENTS, TEACHERS 
AND ALL PEOPLE INTERESTED IN THE 
SCHOOLS OF KEOKUK COUNTY: 



It is hoped that the present volume marks two years' progress 
in the schools of our county, that this progress will be a foundation 
for a still greater progress, that the persons who read its pages care- 
fully will have a gi eater desire than ever before to do something for 
the country boy and girl and that as a result of the educational sys- 
tam of Keokuk county the best and most noble type of American 
Farmer and the most useful American Citizen will be found in our 
homes. Respectfully, 

CAP E. MILLER. 

SiGOURNBY, lOWA, JUNB 27, 1904. 




W. T. HARRIS, U. S. Commissioner of Education. 



CONTENTS. 

Chapter 
Learning To Spell I 

County School Exhibit . . II 

Educational Rally . - . Ill 

Part 1— Township Educational Rally Ill 

Part 2- County Ecucational Rally - - - - - - III 

Composition or Historical Work IV 

Part 1 -Township Historical Contest IV 

Part 2— County Historical Contest IV 

Part 3— My School- Past, Present and Future . . . - iv 

A-Graded Schools • IV 

B-Rural Schools --.---... iv 

Part 4— Bi-county Historical Contests IV 

Part 5— Money Matters - IV 

Agriculture For Common Schools V 

Part 1— Boys' and Girls' Conventions V 

I'art 2— Educational Excursion - V 

Part 3— School Fair - - . . • V 

Part 4 -Farmers' Institute V 

Institute Announcement VI 

NAMES OF HISTORICAL CONTESTANTS AND ORDER. 
Rural Schools. 

District Township 

1 Orla Chacey, No. 3 Richland 2 

2 Guy Strassfcr, " 2 Prairie 1 

3 Sylvia Blaylock " 2 Liberty 2 

4 Alma McCombs " 4 English Riyer 1 

5 Tony Greiner " 2 Clear Creek 1 

6 Nora Evermann " 7 Van Buren 2 

7 Glen Heninger " 3 Steady Run 2 

8 Eva Allsup " 5 Warren 1 

9 Loyd Fry "6 Lafayette 2 

10 Effle Shy " 4 Jackson 2 

11 Kittie McBride " 2 Sigourney 1 

12 Louie Strohmann " 10 German 2 

13 Don Walker " 2 Lancaster 2 

14 Fay Harding " 4 Washington 2 

15 Sidney Axmear '' 2 Adams 1 

Graded Schools. 

1 Agnes Hurd Kinross No. I Liberty 2 

2 Carleton Hamilton Thornburg " 6 Prairie 2 

3 Delano Starr Ollie " 8 Jackson 1 

4 Emma Lester So. English '* 1 English River 4 



LEARNING TO SPELL. 

There is considerable confusion everywhere in regfard to the 
subject of spelling- and the teaching- of it T was not very much sur- 
prised to find these expressions in larg-e letters at the head of an article 
in an educational jourual: "Are In College, But Can't -pell. Fresh- 
men Fail on Simple Words." Everyone realizes that the condition is 
deplorable. Many persons say that our lanj^uage is the cause of this 
condition— we have the most difficult language in the world to acquire. 
The members of the N E A seem to have this idea of the matter, 
and are trying to simplify the spelling- of some of the most confusing 
words in our lang-uag-e 

The old-fashioned way of learning to spell was to f^nrU. T am 
not sure that it is wrong- to be old-fashioned when it comes to spelling-. 
Pupils ought to acquire the habit of ac(*irate spelling- Thev don't 
need to swallow the whole dictionary in order to acquire this. Tf a 
pupil knows a certain number of words perfectly, he is better able to 
determine what other word^ lie doesn't know accuratelv. Re is better 
able to use the dictionary Be sure that he has command of .500 or 
l,ono words of common usage and he will be on the road to success in 
spelling. But he must be absolutely sure as to the words he assumes 
to know. 

With the above idea in mind, three county sunerintendents in 
Towa met and prepared a list of 1,000 words of common usa-e for the 
study of the school children in these three counties The list did not 
include any difficult or "catch" words, but it included simple wo'ds 
which are very often misspelled. Each county superintendent was 



allowdd to conduct the spalUng work in his own county with the un- 
derstanding that a tri-county spelling contest would be held in con- 
nection with the Chautauqua in Washington, July 2, 1903. The fol 
lowing is a letter which was sent to the teachers of Keokuk county: 

Put your spelling books aside for the winter term 
and use the enclosed list of 1,000 practical words as a text. 
Teach your pupils how to write these words correctly. The last weelc 
of your winter term, providea this will not be later than March 27th, 
you will hold a written contest to And out what pupil in your school 
will receive the highest per cent in writing these words correctly. As 
soon as you have held your contest and have found out who this pupil 
is, you will send me his name and address. Then on April 11th, 1903, 
this pupil will come to Sigourney to represent his school in a written 
contest. The three pupils who receive the highest per cent as a 
result of this county contest will go to Washington .July 2nd to repre- 
sent our county in a tri-county contest. The pupil who wins at Wash- 
ington will receive $20 for the school he represents and $5 for him- 
self. Any teacher whose pupil wins a place in the county con- 
test or in the contest at Washington will have made 
a reputation which will be profitable to him. This county 
will look with pride on the children and teachers who undertake this 
task earnestly and especially on the three pupils who win in the coun- 
ty contest and on any pupil who may win in the contest at Washing- 
ton. 

Teacher, it is worth your while. 

I trust that the school Chi Idr-en of this county will be greatly 
benefited by the contest. 

IFnstrucUons. 

Give special attention to the capital letter and to the hypiien 
where they are used. Look up the pronunciation, diacritical marking 
and meaning of every word in the list. If the teacher does not give 
the correct pronunciation for each word, the child will not under- 
stand the words when they are pronounced in the final contest. The 
teacher will be surprised to find that many of these words are not gen- 
erally pronounced correctly. You will notice the word aisle in the 
list. Tell the pupils that when this word is pronounced they are to 
spell aisle and not isle: when pre;/ is pronounced they are to spell 
prey and not pray; stationery and not stationary: seine and not 
sane; suite and not sweet. Dessert and not desert; caramel and 
not caromel; principle and not principal. In other words, teach 
your pupils to spell and to write each word just as it appears here and 
not to spell or write something which sounds like or looks like the 



word desired. You cannot be too careful with this. 

]f tliere are two ways of spelling some of the words, neverthe- 
less, spell them as they appear in the list. ' 

Notice the accent of each word. Some of the words permit 
several dilferent systems of accent Find out what the different sys- 
tems of accent of such v/ords are and explain them to the pupils so 
that they will recoKui^^e the words no matter which system is used in 
the Unal contest by toe person pronouncing. For this reason give 
special attention to the following words: duress, entrance, secretory, 
s}irvey and ijuininr. 

Some words permit two systems of diacritical marking. Give 
special attention to the following words: (j(iseous, jjromennde, dyna- 
ynile, hygiene, isolate and obeisance. 

There will not be enough lists to supply every pupil in the coun- 
ty aud the tsacher will need to put a list in a place where the pupils 
can see It. 

No pupils in graded schools who are classified higher than the 
eig'ith grade will be allowed to enter the contest. ' 

While this contest will bs a written one, yet the teacher should 
not fail to have the childre 1 Si)ell the words orally. The writing of 
each letter and word must bs legible The letter a will not be ac- 
cepted for 0. 

Don't attempt to master the correct spelling of too many words 
in one lesson. Divide the list of 1,000 words into lessons which will 
be best suited to your school. Review often, Spell. Spell. 
Spell. 



•cmbat XLbc^ SaiD. 

My pupils are taking great interest in the spelling contest. 
Everyone thinks it is a good thing. Spelling schools are getting to be 

quite common. We will have one at our school Friday night. 

A Teacher. 

We had a "spell down" Friday evening, January 23rd. Liberty 
carried off the honors. K. A. Kirkpa trick. 

Interest in the tri-county spelling contest is gradually working 
uplo fever heat. Teachers are offering all sorts of prizes to the 
pupils who will represent their schools at Sigourney. Good thing: push 
it along. We'll be a nation of spellers yet. — Keota Eagle, January 22nd 

The spelling contest has created new interest, not only in spell- 
ing, but all of the other branches of study. 

Anna F Clarahan, Harper. 

I think the list of l,()()i> woids a very practical one. 

LuLir Pollock. 



I give the words without study and then the pupils learn the 
ones misspelled. Prin. C. C. Bowie. 

The pupils show a g-reat deal of interest in the spelling work 
and we have batter lessons than ever before. Minnie Strohmann. 

By giving- 25 words to the spelling class each day we will get 
througli the little spelling book and we will have two weeks for re- 
view. We review misspelled words each day. Inez Roller. 

County Superintendent Miller announces something new in the 
educational line and something that cannot help being a decided 
benefit to the schools of the county. Spelling is usually one of the 
weak points in our educational system, and it is not unusual to find 
pupils wlio are well educated otherwise who cannot spell many words 
of common use correctly. — Hedrick .Journal, Jan. 7, 1903. 

All of the pupils are doing good work. They take more inter- 
est in these words than they do in the words in their spelling books. 

Lottie Evermann. 

I find the little spelling book a great help and a greater interest 
has been created in that study than ever before. Sue Downing. 

The list is a good stiff one but the words are for the most part 
practical and if the pupils of these three counties learn them all as 
they should, there will be better spellers than we have at present.— 
What Cheer Patriot, Jan. 2. 190.3. 



County ®ral Spelling Contest. 

For a number of reasons it was thought best to hold a county 
oral spelling contest. It was necessary to have some money with 
which to pay the general exepnses connected with the contest. And 
so many people wanted it. You know how our parents and grand- 
parents delight to tell of the old-fashioned spelling school They 
wanted us to have one of these oral spelling schools and we , planned 
for a large one by sending the followinir letter to all of the teachers: 

On the evening of April 10, it 8 o'clock, the evening just pre- 
vious to the day when the written contest is given, an oral spelling 
contest will be held in the Sigourney high schcol building. Only the 
representatives from the various schools of the county and who partic- 
ipate in the written contest will he allowed to enter this oral contest. 
The same 1,000 words will be used 'n this contest; but if several pupils 
remain standing after this entire list has been used, then other and 
new words will be introduced. 

Five dollars will be given to the pupil who wins in this oral con- 
test An admission fee of 25 cents will be charged Representatives of 
schools will be admitted free. It is hoped that the atteniiance at 
this oral contest will be large enough so that a pleasant surprise to 
the extent of several dollars can be given to each one of three pupils 
who wins in the written contest April U. 



Let it be understood that the entire expenses of the three 
pupils who go to Wasliington will be paid. 

What an interesting spelling contest it will be! 139 of the best 
spellers Keokuk county can afford. Each one will represent a school 
and each one will bring honor to his school . What parent does not 
want to see his child winV What teacher does not wish to see his pupil 
win? Who does not wish to see this contestV What teacher will 
fail to do his duty to raise the standard of spelling in our schools? 

Each teacher in this county will be held responsible for the 
representation of his school. 

Those pupils who recently passed the examination for a county 
diploma will receive their diplomas at this time. 



COUNTY SPELJJC CONTEST. 

THERE WERE EIGHTY BOYS 
AND GIRL S IN TH E CLASS. 

THEY KNOW THE ''ONE THOUSAND." 



Good Educational Interest Awakened 
All Over The County. 

The spelling contest of this county came off last Friday night 
and Saturday according to program. 

Notwithstanding the fact that it rained about all day Friday, 
the boys and girls were interested and they came here from all parts 
of the county. They brought their father or mother or teacher with 
them and bv four o'clock Friday the town was filled with rural school 
children and their friends. 

Friday evening at 8 o'clock Mr Miller lined up eighty contes- 
tants from as many different schools of this county. Everyone of the 
eighty a good one and ready to spell until morning for the glory of 
his school. 

There was a good audience present and while the exercises grew 
long the interest never waned. 

When the first one thousand words had been pronounced there 
were but twelve words misspelled— demonstrating beyond a doubt 
that these boys and girls had not come here without first preparing 
their lesson. 

The work of pronouncing- was diffi-^ult from the fact that the 
class and the "teacher" were not accustomed to each other. The 




room and the class were large and it was a most trying position for 
the speller and the pronouneer. 

At the end of the one thousand words— new ones were given- 
words that they had not studied and it didn t take long to close the 
contest. 

Pauline White, English Kivertown- 
ship, No 7. carried off the honors of 
tlie niglit and was awarded a prize of a 
five dollar gold piece. I'auline Wliite 
is a daughter of lion Fred White and 
the teacher of No. 7 was Ray Wil- 
iams 

Saturday afternoon the real contest 
look place This was a written con- 

Irst. 

The same thousand words were giv- 
en and the same eighty hoys and 
girls wrote them. The manuscript 
will be examined and the winner will 
go to Washington in July to compete 
with that county and Louisa county 
in a spelling. contest. 

There is one thing certain, this lias 
created an interest in spelling among 
the pupils of Keokuk county that 
can't help being beneficial. These 
She ^\Kp(:llcci 'tin doicn." boys and girls have learned one thous- 
and words this winter and learned tliem well, too. They have done 
more than that. They have learned to write by writing the words and 
when an interest has been created in one branch of study it can't help 
spreading to the others. 

Of course there will be a number of disappointments but that is 
always evident when one enters a contest Somebody must wm and 
somebody must lose. 

Undoubtedly the bad weather kept a good number from getting 
here as there were i;^9 who had signified their intention of coming — 
Sigourney Review, April 15, 19(i3 

One father and mother drove 18 miles through the rain to feet to 
Sigourney to witness the contest. I was surprised to see them here 
knowing that they had so far to come througli the rain. I told them 
I was surprised to see them and asked them why they came. The 
father answered: 

"Wliy we had to come ' If we hadn't that daughter of ours 
would have bawled her head off." 

For some unknown reason the word arctic appeared twice in the 
iittle spelling book. The person who pronounced tlie words in the 
county written contest pronounced tiiis word when he came to it the 
first time and omitted it when he came to it the second time One of 
the contestants had the "list so well committed to memory that he 
even knew the order of the words He left a blank space for the 
word omitted by the pronouneer and inserted this expression in writ- 
ing, "The word (ircfic belongs in here .somewhere." 



(Setting iPractical. 

The schools in Washington, Keokuk and Louisa counties have 
inaugurated a movement that should be duplicated all over Iowa. 
The object is to create an interest in spelling the words commonly 
used in the English language. The plan adopted is for each school in 
a county to devote considerable time to spelling and the best spellers 
in each school are sent as delegates to a legular contest at some cen- 
tral-point. Afew days ago one of these contests occurred at Sigour- 
ney in which 80 boys and girls took part. 

A list of 1,(100 words was prepared, but these were not enorgh 
to trip up all of the class. Miss t'aulinei White, daughter of Hon. 
Fred White, won the honors. This spelling contest was done orally, 
and a written contest followed, the winner of that to represent Keo- 
kuk county at the tri-county contest which will be held at Washing- 
ton next July. 

There is no excuse for being a bad speller. It is the result of 
carelessness and poor teaching. It is a branch of study more neglect- 
ed than any other, while in the affairs of life it is more used than any 
other. Too many girls £.nd boys jump from the real foundations of 
education to the side issues that are forgotten soon after they leave 
school. A man with a thorough knowledge of orthography, arith- 
metic, grammar and geography is pretty well prepared to take care of 
himself. Of course other studies are all right and very handy to 
round out an education and should be taken when the four named are 
thoroughly mastered. 

Many men and women who have college diplomas cannot write 
a page of manuscript free from errors of some kind. The average 
compositor in a printing office can detect them. These men do not lay 
claim to finished educations, but what they have is practical and em- 
braces what is in every day use. 

The plan being followed in the three counties named is sure to 
bring good results, and the idea is a splendid one. It is worthy of 
imitation everywhere.— Ottumwa Courier 



?Cbese loung people Can Spell. 

The following are the names of spellers who received grades of 
more than 99 per cent in the county written contest: 

Russel Hayes Charley Lawson 

Lillie Siiort Sylvia Shaw 

Elizabeth Gross Bessie Crooks 

Dora Goeldner Helen Clarahan 

Menza Shy Vera Abraham 

Edna Reed Berenice Thompson 

Ressa Cover Jenoie Pollock 

Effie Davis Jeanette Lemley 

Mary O'Brien Buda Keller 

Kate Humes Mazie Hampton 

Celia Terry Berenice Hardesty 

Walter Strohmann Herbert Utterback 



Nellie Hardesty 

Eunice Cox 

Sophia Behnamann 

Emma Bruns 

Lucy Beinke 

Lelia McDowell 

Yjnia Dowis 

Roy Simmonds 

Sylvia Noffsinger 

Katie Schilling 

Ina Carlisle 

Fern White 

Mabel Sears 

Rosa Tools 

Robert Fischer 

Lydia Miller 

Hattie Jacobs 

Tony Ruggles. 98 per cent 

Nellie Carson, 98 per cent 



Don Walker 
Anna Bruns 
Joy McCauley 
Josie Pfannebecker 
Hugh Jackson 
Bessie Holmes 
Pearl Warrington 
Otus Coffman 
Pauline White 
Rosa Neimon 
Dale Sampson 
Jennie Molyneux 
Clark McCracken 
Hazel Lonner 
Stella O'Rourke 
Maude Helm 
Stella Dawson 
Ida Powell, 97 per cent 
Johnnie Knox, 97 per cent 



Carl Fairchild, 97 per cent. 
This list does not include the names of the seventeen spellers 
who received 100 per cent 

The three county superintendents were surprised to find that 
more than three pupils from each county could spell the 1000 correct 
ly. Here is the record: Louisa county 5; Washington county 6; Keo- 
kuk county 17- And ail of the 28 were allowed to take part in the tri- 
county contest. Following are given tlie names of the Keokuk coun- 
ty boys and girls who spelled the lOoO words correctly in the written 
contest and fifteen of them went to Washington on the evening of 
July first to take part in the tri-county contest on the evening of July 
2nd, 1903: 

Pupil Township School Teacher 

Ray Richardson, Lancaster, Chastine, Mrs. Geo. L. Matson 
John Brooks, Benton, Hedrick, John Goldthwaite. 
Dolly Morrow, Richland. Sub-district No 8, Mildred Brad}'. 
Jennie Slaven, Washington, What Cheer, Pearl McCime 
Ethen Hemsley, Van Buren, No. 1, George Schwenke. 
Hilda Ilartman, Lafayette, No. 7, Eva L. Reed 
Bertha Brower, Liberty, Locust Grove, Arthur Coffman. 
Edith Wenger, Liberty, Liberty, Milo C. Miller 
Glen Kirkpatrick, English River, South English, A. L. Vincent. 



10 

Elsie Hawk, Warren, Delta, Ida Ft- her. 

Harold Morton, Prairie, Gibson. Henry Hervey. 
NeJlie Monaghan, Liberty, No. 4, Katie IMcCann. 
Alma IMcCombs, Ensrlisli River, Grant, Jessie Gemmill. 
Mamie Strasser, Prairie, Coal Creek, A. E. Murley. 
Amanda Beinke, German, Siib-distiict, No 11, Orlando Hobson. 
Letha Haines, Jacl^son, loka, Mrs. T.illus Slieraden. 
Jessie Redferi', Steady Run, Martinsburg Geo. L. Matson. 

July 2nd, 1903, Educational Day at tlie Washington Chautauqua, 
was a great day. Fifteen of our seventeen spellers were there. At 
seven o'clock in the morning twenty-five representatives— five from 
Louisa, five from Washington and fifteen from Keokuk county— met 
in the ^outh Ward school building and wrote the l,0(iO words which 
were prot'ounced by Mi.ss Hughes au'i Mr. Miller. The boys and girls 
did well— exceedingly well considering the great heat of that day At 
five o'cioclc, in the main teuton the Chautauqua ground, the judges 
^'Hve theii decision and it was found that eight contestants had spelled 
the list correctly and seven of them were from Keokuk couiity Fol- 
lowing is the list of successful contestants: Jessie Redfern. Ray 
r. ii-hardson, Mamie Strasser, Elsie Hav.k, Bertha Brower, Harold 
J[urton, Dolly Morrow and Jake Roth. The last one named belongs 
to Washington county. 

Tlie twenty-five dollars was divided equally among the eght 
successful contestants. 

The three superintendents had previously made arrangements 
for a tri-county oral spelling contest and offered a prize of $3 to the 
contestant last on the plat'orm. Washington was allowed to add ten 
representatives to her nu-nber in this oral contest and this made 35 
contestants in all. This contest was held iu the afternoon and in the 
main tent in the presence of hundreds of people. Tlie large ten: was 
crowded and the interest was intens". When the :000 words had 
been been pronounced, not one contestant had gone down. New 
words were then selected from, a modern spelling book and pronounc- 
ed by Miss Hughes. How those boys and girls spelledl How well 
each represented his county! But one by one they wen! down. 

Of the last six standing all but oi e were frcm Keokuk county. 
One by one they missed until John Brooks and Mamie Strasser, both 
from Keokuk county, were left to entertain the crowd. And they 
entertained the crowd for a long time. They can spell— John was 
only nine years of age. Isn't he a remarkable boy? But he finally 



11 

misspelled a word and Mamie St rasser was awarded the prize of 4'5 
which she well deserved. 




MAMIE STRASSER. 



Tliis is a likeness of Miss 
Mamie St rasser who made a 
remarkable record in our 
spellmj"- contest. Slie spelled 
tiielisl. of 1,0(10 words cor- 
rectly in the written county 
contest. She spelled this 
list of words correctly again 
in the written tri-county 
contest, and she ''spelled 'em 
down" in the oral tri county 
contest. Miss Strasser is a 
country girl, living near 
Coal Creek, in Prairie town- 
ship. Our county has rea.son 
to feel proud of the record 
she made 



All persons connected with the tri-county contest feel very 
grateful to the Washington Chautau(iua Association. They paid the 
expenses of three representatives from each county and they 
gave the $25 to the eight winners. 

Yes the spelling contest is past but its influence live-! and will 
live for a long time. The cooperation of parents, pupils and teach- 
ers in the work was remarkable. They realized that the pupils in 
our rural and town schools are not proficient enough in spelling and 
they gladly and earnestly took hold of the work to better the condi- 
tions. 

The little spelling book became a popular friend everywl ere. 
The great demand for it could not be supplied. It can be founi in 
many homes in Keoljuk county today not as a mere souvenir but as a 
little laborer ready for duty. 

The influence of our spelling contest was not confined to our 
own state. The plan has been used in many other ounties ana 
states and has been a remarkable factor for gO"d. Al- 
bert Donnell, superintendent of schools in hlatcrsville. IJ. 1 . is one 



12 

of the many educators who has made use of the plan. He says: "I am 
anxiously looking: for means to create a mutual interest and rivalry be* 
tween schools that lor a number of years have received little at. 
tention." 



"CGlbat a ^cacber SafO. 

George florras was in Cedar Falls attending the Iowa State 
Normal school . This school requires every student who enters to 
take a test in si)elling. If he fails in the test he has to study the sub- 
ject of spelling luitil he is able to pass this test. Man^ universities 
have recently arranged for a class of this kind and generally call it the 
"pity sakes" class. Here is what George says about it: •'! took the 
test this mornii^g and they passed me off with 96 per cent and I know 
that I could not have done it had it not been for the study of the 1,000 
words used in the Keokuk county contest, for we had a great number 
of these words in this test" 

The above shows that the spelling contest was a benefit to the 
teachers as well as the pupils of this county. 

Xo Keokuk county teacher who took an active part in 
this contest has joined a "pity sakes" class One of our teachers re- 
ceived 1 H) per ceiit in the test at Cedar Falls and he, too, sings 
praises for the contest. Oh, it was a help to everybody! Fathers 
and motliers. lawyers and doctors and farmers took an interest in it 
and protited from it 



CouiUg Spelling Contest JEipcnses. 

Pauline White $5.00 

(Granges f>r contestants 2.40 

Janitor 2.50 

Ribbon for badges and diplomas 2.72 

Printing on badges 1.75 

Cut foi' advertising the contest 2 25 

Tickets for oral contest 2 00 



Total expenses $18.62 

Amount taken in at the contest $51.75 

Expenses 18.62 

$.33.13 
This was distributed among the 17 pupils who spelled the 1,000 
words correctly. $:{3 13 divided bv L7~$1.94 15 17. 



13 



COUNTY SCHOOL EXHIBIT. 



A county fair is a common tiling in many counties of the state. 
It is held and conducted by a county fair association. It used to 
come to Keokuk county once each year but for a number of years it 
has not appeared. However, a district fair is held in What Cheer 
each year and I was able to secure the cooperation of this association 
in holding an educational exhibit in connection with that fair Sept- 
ember 22, 23, 24 and 25, 1903. Following is given a letter which was 
sent to the teachers of our county asking them to take hold of the 

work: 

Following you will find a card. 





FAIR 


MITCHELL BROS. 


/maps ano (xarvittg 


BEST 


SEC. BEST ■ 


BEST 


SECOND 
BEST 


Map of Iowa 


$1.00 
1.00 

1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 

l.OD 

2.00 

1.25 

1.00 

1.0 

1.00 

1.00 
1.00 
I.Oj 


50 
50 

50 
50 
50 
50 
£0 

50 
1.00 

FIRST. NAT BANK 

1.00 

50 

50 

5 

50 
50 
.50 


J. C. 


llEEM 


Map of County 

Map of United States showing products of 

different loca'ities 
Drawing of animalb--eisht or more 


A Boot 
CAP E. 


A Book 

MII.I.BR 


Ten or pencil drawing 
Specimens of carvings in wood 
Plan of house 

WRITTEN WORK 
Letter— To my Teacher 

Siiecimen showing greatest improvement in 
penmanship 

Letter— To my Mother 

CABINETS 

Oellection of native woods.'correctly named 
—twenty or more 

Collection of geological specimens-twenty 
or more 

lierbarium, showing twenty or more speci- 
mens of wild flowers correctly named 
I'RIMARY WORK 

Display of perforating 

Display of paper cutting 

Display of paper weaving 


100 


50 . 



Please read it carefully and keep it for future reference It 
shows you a list of the awards offered to the children of tliis county by 
the What Cheer Fair Association for various kinds of school work 
placed on exhibition at this Fair. 

Our spellint;^ contest was a graat success but many children 
were not old enough to take part in the spelling work, 

I have arranged for a new contest in which every pupil in your 
school can take part. There is work for all grades and the work is 
modern. Our country is demanding that we put more work into our 
schools which will reiiuire the pupils to use their Ihinds as well as 
their Minds. Let us be practical in our work. It is important for the 
pupil to know how to draw, how to carr(; and how to irriU' . 

Copy this list of awards on the blackboard. Tel! your pupils 
that you and the county superintendent wish each pupil to select at 
least one of the sixteen subjects for his best efforts. Some of these 
pupils may be able to make their own selection: others will need your 
help. No pupi! will be allowed to compete for more tlian six awards. 

Encourage the children to observe and collect specimens of na 
tive woods, rocks and wild flowers as they come to school and as they 
go home. It may be possible for you to plan an excursion for the en- 
couragement of this work. 

I will soon send you another card on which I wish you to make 
a report of the work you are doing. 

On the last day of your school collect all material which is ready 
for exhibition and send it to me. Your school will not continue many 
weeks but there is plenty of time to do this work. The children can 
continue to work for the awards during the summer and fall as the 
Fair will not begin until the 22nd of September. 

Notice that the award for the work in penmanship is for the 
greatest improvement. The pupil who receives this award may not be 
the best penman. Use the following sentence for the cop3' ni this 
work: "The What Cheer Fair Association wishes to encourage the 
children of our county to do better school work." 

The competition in this department is between individuals and 
not classes or schools. No pupils above the eighth grade will be al 
lowed to compete. Those pupils who compete for the award given for 
the greatest improvement in penmanship must send a specimen of 
their penmanship to me when they begin to work for the award. 

Every possible effort was made to encourage originality and in- 
dividuality on the part of the pupils. 

What Teachers Said:— 

All of my pupils are talking about the "new contest" as they 
call it. Maggie Donovan 

I am sending you a copy of the writing of three o' my i)upils 
who have selected the "greatest improvement in penmanship" as one 
of the subjects for tlieir best efforts. All of my pupils are very en- 
thusiastic over the exhibition, and I believe that it will be a stimulus 
toward better school work. Dora E. Housb. 

Please find enclosed specimens of two of my pupils' penmanship. 
I think this a fine thing and am going t > do all I can to make it a 
success. Raymond Sanders. 

These quotations are only a few of the large number received 
which would go to show tluit an unusual interest was taken in the 
work and that it was a factor for good in our schools. Following are 
given a list of the names of pupils who received first and .seccnd prizes 



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16 

A little girl came into this office one pleasant afternoon not 
long since and began to talk about her school. She said: "Our school 
has closed but I like to go to school and I want to learn all I can so 
I am attending school in the district just north from us." We don't 
find many boys and girls ten years of age so eager to get an education 
that they will attend school in a neighboring district when their own 
school has closed. I began to realize that the little lady before me 
was remarkable in many ways. Why she went on to say, "I had a 
birthday Wednesday." ''Wednesday?" said I, "Ttiat was my birth- 
day, too " But this wasn't all. We continued our conversation She 
said, "I work d hard to get to represent our school in the township 

historical contest but beat me She had an excellent produc- 
tion, didn't you think so?" Indeed she did have an excellent produc- 
tion. It was necessary for her to have an excellent production if she 
hoped to win when in competition with this little lady. "But," said 
this little lady, "I guess I won in one contest." What was that? "I 
received one dollar and a half for work placed on exhibition at the 
What Cheer Fair." But even this isn't all I went to a hotel for 
dinner that day and as I sat down at the table a gentleman said, "I 
met one of the most intelligent little girls today that 1 have met for 
a long time." "Where did you see her?" "In the bank She had a cer- 
tificate of deposit for one dollar and a half." And then I asked him 
if he knew where she had received that money Of course, he didn't 
know and I was not absolutely sure that I knew but I told him of the 
fact that this same little girl had received this same amount of money 
foi' school work which she had prepared and sent to the What Cheer 
Fair How much she thinks of that one dollar and a half! But the 
best part of it is that she has leirned how to take defeat or victory 
whichever comes her way. This is one of the best lessons in life. In- 
deed, life is a contest and the sooner we are able to meet its demands, 
the better for us How sincere was the old soldier who had engaged 
in many fierce battles during the Civil War and who wanted to im- 
press this fact on the minds of his grandchildren. They were accus- 
tomed to sit with liim by the fireplace each evening and ask for stories 
and descriptions of battles. They were somewhat surprised one even- 
ing when they asked him to tell them about the greatest battle in 
which he had ever fought when he named it the "The Battle of 
Life." Yes, many things go to show that contests are all right when 
properly conducted. 




Ipart 1*«Covpn8blp £bucattonal IRaUy 

Following is given the substance of a letter which was sent to 
the teachers of this countj' November 20, 190.3 and which explains it- 
self: 

The EiuciMoriai Council of the State Tenchers' Association, of 
which I have the honor of being a member, is urging the school inter- 
ested people of Iowa to unite in a state-wide campaign of education. 
There can be no question regarding the need of a united effort that 
sliall have for its object the creating of a better public opinion in fav- 
or of good schools. 

The following is the plan wliich will be used in this county: 
An educational rally will be lield in each township December 5, 
1003. The rally will be for the i^copk of the township and not for the 
teachers alone. The people nt \nvge must be renched if we wish to 
improve our schools. A competent school interested person has been 
appointed to supervise the rally in each township. Tliis township 
conductor will prepare a program and will ask you to take an active 
part. He will make a report to tlie county superinteiident coiicerriirig 
the quantity and quality of the work done by each teacher Audi 
want to tell you that I care more for the record which a teacher 
makes when he is in the scho il roo n where he cm show his real worth 
lis a teacher, when he is attending educational ns^ociations where he 
can show his willingness to help his fellow-workers, tlie scliool child- 



ren and their parents and where he can show his willingness to be 
helped by them— I care more for this than I do for the record left on 
a few examination papers. 

Make December 5th a memorable day for the schools in our 
county. Let no county surpass ours in its effort to improve the 
schools. Go into the work with an interest and enthusiasm nev- 
er known before. 

Your township conductor will send you some programs. See 

that at least one program reaches every home in your school district. 

He will also send you some invitation cards to parents one of which 

is to be sent to each home in your district after it has been properly 

signed by you. 

^ownsbfp donDuctors 
Sup't Mary IJryant, Benton, Prin Charles Yeager, Lafayette, 

Prin. C. E. Humphreys, Warren, Prin Roy E Farrand, Adams, 
Prin. W. C Hicks Richland, Prin W. S Yeager, Steady Run, 
Prm. Geo Horras, English River. Prin Harry McVicker, Prairie, 
Prin. Edward Duree, Jackson, Prin. S. E. Divelbiss, Lancaster, 
Prin. Harry Trumbo, Liberty, Miss Emma Blaise, German, 

Margaret Hotfarth, Washington, Miss Nancy Frey, Clear Creek. 
Prin. J. A. Thomas, Van Ruren and Sigourney 

These conductors will be required to make public reports at 
county educational rally which will be held in Sigourney soon after 
the holidays. These reports will tell of the condition of the schools 
in each township, what they have done, are doing, will do and ought 
to do in the future Several educators of national reputation will be 
imported to help with the county rally which will be the greatest 
educational meeting ever held in Keokuk county. 

Try to have a talk with your township conductor before the 
timp of the rally. 

An effort was made to secure the cooperation of the press and 
of the ministers of the gospel. Every minister in the county was ask- 
ed to devote at least one sermon, Nov. 15, or the first Sunday possible 
thereafter, to a discussion of themes bearing upon the work of the 
public schools. Where the same minister had charge of two churches 
he was asked to give this sermon in each church. The importance of 
these discourses as means of reaching the people can hardly be over- 
estimated. The same four subjects were discussed in all of the fifteen 
township rallies: 'Teachers' Wages, ' "What can school boards, teach- 
ers, pa-ents and citizens do to improve the schools of this township?" 
"Improvement of Schoolhouses and Schools-rounds," "Do we need an 
education of the Heart and Hand as greatly as an education of the 
Head?" The township conductor was allowed to add other appropvi- 



19 

ate subjects to the program if he thought it necessary. He made the 
program interesting by adding something in the line of music and 
reading. A few of the conductors imported help from neighboring 
counties and thus greatly added to the success of their rallies. Tiie 
conductois asl<ed their local newspapers to help them. They publish- 
ed township programs so that everybody could Know when and where 
the rallies would be held. Several newspapers gave extensive reviews 
of the different sessions of th3 rallies and a number nf them published 
some of the best papers read in their respective townships This was 
one of the greatest sources for good in connection with the rallies. 

Another source for good was thai the conductor in each town- 
ship became aetjuainted with all of the school interested people and 
with the needs of the schools in the entire township and the people 
thereafrer looked to him for advise and help in educational work. 

One conductor became so enthusiastic that he wrote to me and 
this is what he said: 

"On with the work of education in Keokuk county^ 1 am glad 
to have a chance to help in this great work," 



20 



Ipart 2^=County £bucational IRalli? 

SIGOURNEY, IOWA, JANUARY 22-23, 1904. 

PROGRAM 

FRIDAY EVENING, 7:30 P. M. 

Music— Keota High School Orchestra. 

■ Manual Training and Elective Studies" — Sup't. W. L 
Steel, Galesburg, 111.— Sup't City Schools. Galesburg, 
111 President of Illinois State Teachers' Association in 
19 '3 A. M., '80, .VTonmouth College, Illinois; Ph. D., 
'UO Knox College. 

Vocal Solo— Miss Blanche Stewart, Supervisor of Music in 
Keota Public Schools. 

SATURDAY MORNING, 8:00 A. M. 
Music — Sigourney Pupils. 

A talk of ten minutes from each one of the fifteen conduct- 
ors of tovk'nship rallies. 
1 Emma Blaise — German Township. 

2. Nancy Frey- Clear Creek Township. 

3. Sup't Mary Bryant— Benton Township. 
3. Roy E Farrand. Adams Township. 

4 Prin. Chas. Yeager— Lafaj'ette Township. 

5. Prin. Geo. D. Horras— English River Township. 

6. Prin. Margaret Hoffart— Washington Township. 

7. Prin. C. E. Humphreys — Warren Township. 

8. Prin. W. C. Hicks— Richland Township. 

9. Prin. S E. I) ivelbiss -Lancaster Township. 
10. Prin. Harry P. Trumbo— Liberty Township 

11 Prin. W. S. Yeager— Steady Run Township. 

12 Prin. H S. McVicker — Prairie Township. 

13 Prin. Ed Duree— Jackson township. 

15. Prin. J. A. Thomas— Sigourney and Van Buren Town 

ships. 
Music— Keota High School Orchestra. 



31 

•'School (^.ardens"'—Orville T P.rijxlit. CliicoRO, TIL. Priri of 
James R I>ool it tie School. ChicaK^o. Vice President of Xatioiui I lOdii- 
cational Association 1!)<)2-190:{. Ex-County Superintendent of Schools. 

NOON. 

SATURDAY AFTP^RXOON. 1:S(). 

Tlie Palmer method of writing- — A N. Palmer. Cedar 

Rapids. Iowa. (Editor of the Western Penman ) 
Music- Keota ni?h School Orchestra. 

Lecture— "Some School Problems' (Illusti-ated with stere- 
opticon views) OrvilleT. Brii^fht. Chicaj^o, 111. 
The whole program will be interesting- and instruetive to mem 
hers of school boards, parents, pupils and teacliers. It has beeti ar- 
i-anged for the people and not for teachers alone. There will be three 
sessions of the program as outlined above Course tickets will be sold 
for :w cents each. Ask your teacher for a ticket 

The County Educational Rally was carried out according to the 
program. It was a rally which no progre.ssive teacher in the county 
could aflfo I'd to miss. On account of tlie snow, ice and Iwd weather 
the attendance was not as large as it might have been, Init taking 
everything into consideration the attendance was good. 

The Keota High School Orchestra furnislied music for all of the 
sessions. This music was very much appreciated by those in attend- 
ance. This orchestra reflects great credit upon the Iveota schools 




Grace Hrownell, Stanton Chesney. Blanche Stewart. 
Harold Ilelscher, Nelle Fish Clara Stewart, Raymond Warrington, 

Everette Ilulse. 
Miss Blanche Stewart wliose likeness appears in this group is 
supervisor of music in tlie Keota schools and she added to the agree- 
ableness of the program by furnishing several vocal solos. 




Through the kindness of ttie Midland Schools, Des Moines, Iowa, a state 
educational jonrnal, we are able to present this j^-roup. 



22 

Sup't W. L Steele read a paper on Manual Training and Elect- 
ive Studies. He gave a short history of the work in manual training 
in the Galesburg schools and his experience with the elective system. 
At tills time the Galesburg schools owned $-4,000 worth of tools for the 
manual training department and the system has given the best of 
satisfaction, Mr Steele was very enthusiastic in his support of the 
elective system. The chief advantage claimed for it was that it kept 
pupils in school who would drop out if they had to pursue one certain 
line of studies. Mr. Steele believes that the germs and extracts of all 
trades should be introduced into the schools. 

Saturdav morning the fifteen townsliip conductors gave public 
reports which showed the condition of the schools in their respective 
townships and pointed out the way to many much needed improve- 
ments and reforms. 

The numbers in this group correspond to the numbers found in 
front of the names of the township conductors on the program for the 
county educational rally. It was impossible for us to get a 
photograph of Mt'. Thomas in time to use it in this connec- 
tion The township reports were interesting and instructive and 
showed how earnestly and energetically these men and women worked 
in behalf of the rally system. In scholarship and in substance they 
were ail above the ordinary Time and space will not allow us to 
publish all of them but it may not be out of order to give you an idea 
of their general character by tiie use of one of them- 



Condition of Schools in Xibertt? tlownsblp. 

I feel a little timid about making my report as these that have 
just been given are so good. They remind me of a story. Once upon 
a time -as the story runs, there was a young m.arried couple living off 
in a community where Jieighbors were scarce and far between. Now the 
man and his wife thought very much of each other, strange to say, 
and it happened one time that the husband was obliged to be away 
from home for some time. Of course the fond wife waited anxiously 
for her husband's return. One day when he was absent, she took the 
water jug and went down to the spring to get some fresh water. She 
filled the jug and started back and whom should she see coming down 
the path to meet her but her husband. She ran swiftly to meet him 
and the husband reached out his arms and drew her to his bosom. 
They were much delighted. All nature seemed happy. Even the old 
jug which the wife had dropped and out of which the cork had popped 
just lay over on its side and as the water gurgled out it said "goody! 
goody! goody!" That's the way I feel about these reports. They are 
good, good, good. 



It Beems to me that the county superintendent has mixed up 
tp.c bill of fare. Where I've been eating, they usually bring on the 
plain food first and later the pie and cake. I think that Mr. Miller 
should have reserved Mr. Yeager and Miss Bryant and these other 
speakers till a little later on. He commenced to give you cake and pie 
and has kept it up till just at present he has given you a small chunk 
of corn bread. You must not blame me for this. I had nothing to do 
with the making of the program I am somewhat like a man I once 
heard of. This man liad a very tattered pair of trousers and one day 
a friend spoke to him about the dilapidated condition of his panta- 
loons. "Yes," said the man. "I know my pantaloons are somewhat 
seedy, but clothes don't make the man: these pantaloons cover a 
warm lieart." I suppose those pants were bib over-alls, f am some- 
thing like that man. I am not an orator, nor am I like the geutle- 
men who have preceded me— 'andsome, but I have a warm heart; 
my intentions are good. 

As our rally has been fully reported in the Exponent, I will not 
report on it only T will say that it was very well attended by the 
country people who seemed to take great interest in it. 

Generally speaking, the schools of our township are in good 
condition, but that isn't saying they are in the condition they ought 
to he in. Nay, far from it. It is true that good work is being done^ 
but not the best, on account perhaps of an occasional indifferent 
teacher, school board, or community. 

Most of the schools of our township have small libraries, but too 
small for tlie best results and in the way of apparatus the schools are 
very, very deficient. To teach in our township is like "making brick 
without straw." Our patrons need educating in that line. It is 
strange to me why those farmers buy the best farming machinery for 
their own use while they send their children to school to be trained 
for life and provide the teacher with absolutely no machinery at all. 

The school houses of our township are in fair condition with 
the exception perhaps of one or two which will need to be rebuilt in 
the near future. 

We have eight schools in our township— one of the eight is graded 
and the rest are ungraded Tiie eight schools have nine teachers— 4 
females and 5 males. 

The enrollment for our eight schools this winter is about 207, the 
largest enrollment for anyone school being (57 and the smallest 3. 
Three or four of the schools have a small enrollment. In fact so 
small that it makes the monthly tuition average somewhat high. 
Some of the patrons of our township would like to consolidate their 
districts witl> others and build up a union school, but it 



24 

seems very difficult to get them all in the same mind 
at the same time, but eventuallj' I think at Kin- 
ross we will have a union school, as the patrons of that 
district are anxious for consolidation. Kinross is admirably situated 
for such a scliool as it has a large school building and a large school 
lot- -ample room for the pupils of two or three more districts. 

There are about 7.7 acres of land in our township used for 
school purposes. This should have attention at once as two of the 
schools have only one-half acre each for .school purposes and one has 
only two-fifths of an acre. Only two districts have more than one 
acre for school purposes. 

District No. 1 has 2.31 acres and district No. 2 has 1.07 acres. 
The rest have less. Now the pupils can manage to play their 
games on a two acre lot very nicely, and they can manage by 
economizing space to play most gfames on an acre lot but that is the 
limit. One half acre lot is too small- You know the school buildings 
take up considerable space in such a lot and then when you turn 
about two dozen young Americans loose upon the remaining space, 
you find that things are some what congested. It causes the teacher 
to either wish for more room or else to make a wisli like a boy I once 
read of who had eaten very much at a Thanksgiving dinner. It was 
at the close of the meal and he was sitting at the table with his face 
suffused in tears. The fond mother thinking that her boy wished 
something more to eat, a.sked him if be wanted some cake. "No'm" 
responded tlie boy. the tears continuing to tlov/. "Would you like 
pome more pieV" asked the mother "No'm" replied the boy, the hot 
tears still coursing down his cheeks. "Well what's the matter?" 
said the mother. "Tell mamma what you want." Tearfully the boy 
replied "I want more of this out of me what I've got in." That's 
perhaps the way with the teachers who have these small school lots— 
they want to get rid of some of the pupils. 

How are boys to play foot-ball or base-ball in sncli a small in- 
closHreV Why the chances are that if one of our stalwart youth en- 
deavored to catuh a fly in a ball game played in such a yard, he would 
land in the next field before he realized the fact. 

I am confident that the land owners who own land near those 
small school lots would be willing to part with enough land to give 
the pupils a decent play ground because you can't fence against the 
the American boy. He has caught the expansion fever and if there 
isn't room to play his games on his play ground, he will go into the 
adjoining farmer's clover field and lay out his base-ball diamond and 
then the poor teaciier receives a "ble.ssing ' from the angry farmer. 



25 

We ought to have large school lots. Who knows, in the near 
future we may liave school farms and school gardens so "let's be ready 
lor the waj^ou wlien It comes along."' 

In regard lo just wliat tlie schools have accomplished in tiie 
past, it is liard to say. I have been unable to And anything above the 
ordinary that has been done. Perhaps last year two or three finished 
the coimty course of study and one or two took the teachers' examina- 
tion for certificates. This year perhaps six will take the county ex- 
amination lor diploma and perhaps two or three will take the teach- 
ers' examination. 

I think there is greater interest taken in e'ducation in our 
township than last year. The educational rally held in our township 
had a very beneficial result in this respect 

Now as to what we are going to do in the future, I think it is 
the purpose of most of our teachers to not only help prepare the pup- 
ils for life's duties, but to develop in them habits of punctuality, obe- 
dience, honor, courage to stand by the right without flinching, and 
respect for the rights of others. In fact to train them morally as well 

as ohysically and intellectually. 

H. P. Trumbo. 

After these reports, A. N. Palmer (editor of the Western Pen- 
man) gave a talk on muscular movement in penmanship and ail pres- 
ent were pleased with his practical ideas. 

Saturday afternoon O. T. Bright read a paper on School 
Gardens. Mr. Bright is a very enthusiastic supporter of school 
gardens. He said it was the strangest thing to him that the great 
state of Iowa did not have anything in the agricultural line taught in 
her schools while agriculture is almost wholly the occupation of her 
people. Mr. Bright also gave a lecture on School Problems which he 
illustrated with stereopticon views. 

A committee consisting of threetownsliip conductors drew up 
resolutions which were adopted by the teachers of tl-e county. 

RESOLUTIONS. 

Having received inspiration from the present system of rallies 
and believing them to be the most effective method of arousing pub- 
lic sentiment to action in improving the schools of Keokuk county. 

Therefore be it resolved: 

1. That we advise their continuance. 

2. That we approve the action of Sup't Miller in securing the 
prominent educators who appeared on our program. 

3. That we heartily commend the plan originated by our 
county superintendent of holding county and township 'Historical 
Contests'" and organizing boys agricultural clubs. 



26 

NEEDS OF THE SCHOOLS OF KEOKUK COUNTY. 

I More playground. 

2. Better school houses. 

:■{ . v\ ater supply close at hand. 

4. Better out building's. 

5. Fences 

6. Trees and other plant life on grounds. 

7. More and better apparatus 
8 Supplementary reading. 

9. Pictures (to be furnished by board ) 

10. .lackets around stove and stove placed in corner of room 

{ Mary S. Bryant 

< Chas. Yeager 

( Chas. E. Humphreys 

At the close of the rally an organization by the name of The 
Keoliiik County Principals and Superintendents' Association was or- 
ganized with the following officers: 

Pres., Prin. J. A. Thomas, of Sigourney. Vice Pres., Sup't 
Alary Bryant, of Hedrick; Sec, Prin. Harry McVicker of Thornburg. 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTE E. 

Prin C E. Humphreys, of Delta: Prin. Chas. Yeager, of Keota; 
Prin. Harry Trumbn, of Kinross. 

The object of this organization is to have these people who are 
at the iiead of the county's schools meet together occasionally and 
jnterchiinge ideas and work to forward the educational system of the 
county. 

The report of the Educational Council of the State Teachers' 
Association makes mention of tiie educational rallies held in Keokuk 
county and says that the system was carried out more fully in this 
count \ than '.n any other in the state. The word rally is our own. 
We lil«i! it better tiian the woru meeting. Tlie name of a thing 
•■omc!! imes has something to do with its influence. 

Expenses $ov Cbe County 1Rall\^. 

When .> on notice the names of the speakers on our program 
you will realize that the program cost us something. Such workers 
must have remuneration for their services. It was for this reason 
that I sent a number of tickets to each eacher for sale with the hope 
that teachers would endeavor to get parents and members of school 
boards and citizens to attend tliis rally. Somehow we must get all 
the people interested in our schools and I knew of no better way tc 
begin than to urge them to attend this rally An effort v.as made tc 
emphasize the fact that the rally was for the people and not foj 
teachers alone. There were three sessions of the program and course 
tickets sold for :^5 cents each. 



ZT 

Orchestra car fare $ ().13 

Board and lodging for orchestra 4.00 

Board and lodging for speakers 3.(K) 

Bright '>0.00 

Steele 12."i 

Total expense $75. 13 

Money received from sale of tickets 3"). 10 

Total deticit *4(».0:i 

From 75 to :^00 people attended each township rally— an average 
of at least 135 December 5, 1903, was an important day for the 
schools of Keokuk county because on that day 2000 or more people 
gave considerable time and attention to the subject of education. 

The editors of the The Educational Exponent endeavored to se- 
cure a short biography of each one of the fifteen township conductors 
for the January number, 1904. Much credit is due these conductors 
and it will not be out of order to publish a biography of 
MISS NANCY FREY, 
Clear Creek Township. 

Some one has said, "Eternity alone can display the immeasur- 
able, inconceivable usefulness of one devoted teacher" This saying 
applies well to the life and work of Miss Nancy Frey whose likeness 
appears In this publication as number 2 in the group of township con- 
ductors— a lady who has not taught school for money alone and wh • 
has been a most devoted teacher. 

Born near Bladensburg, Knox county, Ohio, December 1.5,1835 
— daughter of Rev. James Frey, a pioneer Baptist minister. When a 
small child her parents moved to Delaware county, Ohio, where Miss 
Frey grew to womanhood. Her education was obtained principally 
from the public schools of her native state. She began teaching in 
1854 and after teaching two terms in Ohio she came with her parents 
to Iowa in 1863, who located in Sigourney, Keokuk county. With the 
exception of one term in Wapello county her teaching has been con 
fined to the rural schools of Keokuk county . She has taught seventy- 
three terms of school and can number her pupils bv the thousands — 
many of whom are now occupying prominent positions in life and who 
represent the different professions of law, medicine and the ministry 
and who still have words of praise for their teacher and friend. In 
many instances she has taught two generations. 

Miss Frey has been an energetic and progressive teacher. She 
was a member of the first graduating class of the Keokuk County 
Normal Institute and she was one of the first class to graduate from 
the Iowa State Teachers' Reading Circle. 



28 

The children in district number one, Clear Creek township, will 
be glad to tell you that Miss Frey will teach their school this winter. 
The school board will not hesitate to tell you that they are paying 
her $40 per month and may tell you, too, that two other school boards 
were trying to secure the services of Miss Frey when they offered her 
the $40. 

It may be that Miss Frey has lost some of her energy but she 
retains more than is possessed by some teachers— new in the work. 
And she has not lost one iota of her interest and devotion for her 
noble profession The story of her life ought to serve as an inspiration 
to those who know her and to those who choose the same noble pro- 
fession. 

"Teachers of Teachers! Your's the task, 
Noblest that noble minds can ask." 



29 



HISTORICAL OR COMPOSITION WORK. 

I believe in variety and in growth. It would not do to try to 
make use continually and forever of any one of the following things — 
spelling contest, school exhibit or educational rally— as a means to 
create and hold an Interest in the schools of a community or countv. 
It would not do to talk forever about spelling. Such a person vvould 
soon become narrow-minded and people would call him a crank on 
spelling. We ought to do one thing at a time, do well all that we do 
and grow as we go along. With all due respect for the importance 
of the subject of spelling, there is no acquirement which w U be of 
more value to a person than the ability to express his thoughts cle rly 
and well on paper and to write legibly. This thought came to me 
January 17, 1904, but a number of other thoughts came with it. The 
thing that needs most attention in many counties of our state in the 
educational line today is the improvement of schoolhouses and school 
grounds. The influence of school surroundings has more to do with 
the education of children than the methods used in teaching gram- 
mar or arithmetic. And it took mesom3 tim3 to decide how to con- 
nect these subjects which need special attention in our couaty. I 
wanted to hold all the interest for schools which had been created 
as a result of the spelling, exhibit and rally work and direct it to the 
school house and yard for future influence. Perh ips it would be well 
to ask pupils to write on the subject Our Schoolhouse or Our School. 
But I didn't like these subjects. Somehow I wanted the people to 
realize the fact that the average country school house has not kept 
pace with modern progress. It has not improved in the lines of 
comfort, use and beauty to the extent that homes or even oaras and 
sheds of various kinds have improved. In this connection the idea 



of time— past, present and future comes naturally and on the day 
mentioned previously the following letter was sent from this office 
to the teachers of the county: 

1 want you to get the boys and girls of your school interested in 
the subject My School — Past, Present and Future. I want you to 
begin the work to-day. Make use of this subject as a subject for 
composition. The children will be glad to ask their parents and 
neighbors about the history of the school: when it was built, remark- 
able meetings of various kinds which have been held in it, boys and 
girls who have studied under its roof and who have become men and 
women of prominence. Every person in the community will be inter- 
ested in the history of this school. It will be worth while to give one 
week to the investigation and attention of this part of the subject. 
Then tell the children to look at the schoolhouse, yard and surround- 
ings and make the best possible descriptioQ of what they see and of 
what constitutes their school to day. This part of the composition 
must include the following: Is the school well located— a healthy 
and beautiful location? Number of square rods of schoolground; num 
ber of trees, kind and condition of plant life on schoolground. Does 
a tasty and substantial fence surround it? Is there a well with a 
pump in it? Size, shape, age and condition of the schoolhouse. What 
constitute the decorations on the inside? Is it painted on the out- 
side? Tell about its stove, globe, maps, charts, blackboards, desks 
and seats and window curtains. Tell about its library, the number 
and kind of books it contains. Tell about the regularity and punctual- 
ity of pupils who attend this school — number of visits made by par- 
ents and school board. Make a living description of your school as it 
is. Give facts in the case and make the composition interesting. 

Try to see a better future lor this school. In this part of the 
composition the pupils can tell what kind of school they ought to 
have and the kind of school they hope their school will be some day. 
Let them make some use of their imagination if they wish. 

It is not impossible for a rural school to be well supplied with 
apparatus— globes, maps, charts, solid slate blackboards, adjustable 
and single seats; well lighted and ventilated; neatly decorated on the 
inside; painted on the outside; a room with double doors which open 
into the schoolroom proper and the entire space of which can be used 
for public entertainments and meetings, a basement with a furnace, 
a work shop and some lunch tables; a good healthy location, sur- 
rounded by an acre or more of schoolground which is well taken care of 
and which is enclosed by a tasty and substantial fence; a number of 
handsome trees, a vegetable and flower garden at appropriate places 
on the ground; a well with pump in it. The school should be a sec- 



31 

ond home and when it becomes as elegant and as comfortable as the 
best home— when it becomes all this, it will not be too much. 

When the children have collected all of tlie material whicli the.v 
find on this subject, when they have written their compositions, then 
ask them to read their productions in the class recitation. Decide which 
one is best and ask the writer to commit to memory this production 
Mid to represent the school in a township historical entertainment 
wJiich will be held in a town or central schoolhouse in your township 
and to which every rural school of your township will send a repre- 
sentative. Each teacher will be held responsible for the representa- 
tion of his school. The work must begin to-day in order that the 
township historical entertainments may be held when desired. 



TOWNSHIP 


TIME 




PLACB 


Kichland 


February 12, 


1904 


Richland 


Jackson 


i( 


13 


(( 


Ollie 


Steady Run 


u 


15 


(( 


Martinsburg 


Benton 


(( 


16 


(t 


Hedrick 


Lancaster 


(( 


17 


(i 


Hayesville 


Warren 


(1 


18 


u 


Delta 


Sigourney 


'( 


19 


u 


East Laffer 


Van Buren 


I ( 


20 


l( 


District No. 6 


German 


(1 


22 


u 


District No. 8 


Lafayette 


(( 


23 


u 


Keota 


Clear Creek 


1 i 


24 


u 


Talleyrand 


Liberty 


'• 


25 


i 1 


Kinross 


ISnglish River 


u 


26 


u 


South English 


Adams 


11 


27 


(1 


Keswick 


Prairie 


(( 


29 


u 


Nassau 


Washington 


March 


1 


I ( 


What Cheer 



Each township will select a representative to present this sub- 
ject at a county historical entertainment which will be in session in 
Sigourney two nights in the month of March — Friday and Saturday 
nights. 

The rural schools will conduct the county historical entertain- 
ment Friday night and the graded schools will conduct the entertain- 
ment Saturday night. A school which consists of two or more rooms 
will be considered a graded school and each school of this kind will be 
allowed to send a representative to the county historical entertain- 
ment which will be held Saturday night. No pupils in grades above 
the tenth grade will be allowed to to take part in the entertainment 
and no town will be allowed more than one representative. 

On this Saturday will be called a Boys' Convention for the pur- 
pose of organizing a Boys' Agricultural Club. Each rural and graded 



32 

school will be requested to send at least one boy to this convention. 
Others can come if they wish. 

Teachers, this liistorical work must be attended to even if your 
school does close in a few days or weeks. In a week or two I will 
send you a blank card on which I wish you to send me the name of the 
pupil who will represent your school. 

These productions should contain not less than eight hundred 
and not more than two thousand words. 

I trust that you will give your immediate and hearty co-opera- 
tion to this work. 



PART 1 -TOWNSHIP HISTORICAL CONTEST. 

Sixteen of these township entertainments, corresponding to the 
sixteen townships of our county, were held at the time and' place 
mentioned in the previous letter. It was my pleasure to attend all of 
these entertainments, beginning on the evening of February 12th and 
closing on the evening of March 1st. Of course it kept me busy be- 
cause I could not remain away from the office more than two days at a 
time. Three judges attended each entertainment and selected a pupil 
to represent each respective township in a county historical contest 
which was held in Sigourney Friday and Saturday nights, March 25th 
and 26th Thought, composition, memory and delivery each counted 
one-fourth in the record of each contestant— a perfect record showing 
25 per cent for each one of these divisions or a total of 100 per cent. 
You can see some connection between this work and the educational 
rally when I tell you that a township conductor was local manager 
for each township historical entertainment. It may not be inappro- 
priate to publish one of the sixteen township programs in this con- 
nection ^ 

Lafayette Township Historical Entertainment 

At Baptist Chtirch, Keota, Iowa, Tuesday evening, Febru- 
ary 23, 1904, 7:30 P. M. 

A representative from every school in the township will take 
part. Each representative will tell you about "My School— Past, Pre- 
sent and Future." 

PROGRAM. 

Music K. H. S. Orchestra 

District No. 1 Florence Kennel 

District No. 2 Leta Lyie 

District No. 3 Mamie Cook 

Music Pupils from Primary 



33 

District No. 4 Dora Goeldner 

District No. 5 Irene Kaufman 

District No. 6 Lloyd Fry 

Music Pupils from 2d and 3d rooms 

District No. 7 Amy Gardner 

District No. 8 .Frank Flander 

District No. 9 Maude Baker 

Music Pupils from 2nd and 3rd rooms 

Music K. H. S. Orchestra 

(Prof. W.L. Lytle 

Decision of judges •< Prin. C. E. Humphreys 

,.; . (Prin. H. P. Trumbo 

A small admission fee will be charged to meet general expenses 
and to support The Boys' Agriculture Club— 10 cents for children and 
20 cents for adults. Persons taking part in program will be admitted 
free. 

, Prin. Charles Ybager Twp. Mgr. 

While the judges prepared their decision I endeavored to talk 
to the boys and girls about the school work of the county and especi- 
ally about the county historical entertainment. It was necessary for 
someone to give these boys and girls encouragement. The fact that 
they were selected to represent their schools showed that they had some 
good qualities. Their teacher or some one had contidence in them or 
they would not have been chosen to represent these schools. They 
were honored when they were chosen to represent their schoolmates 
and schools. But this honor like most honors brought with it re- 
sponsibility and labor. Not one pupil in the county failed to meet 
the demands of the occasion in the way of thorough preparation. 



Iblstorical Contest. 



The historical contest for Washington township was held at the 
opera house in this city Tuesday evening. All the rural schools ex- 
cept one were represented by bright young people who handled the 
subject of their school history in an effective manner. Miss Fay 
Harding of District No 4, was awarded the honor of representing the 
township in the county contest at Sigourney, although the judges had 
difficulty in deciding between several of tiie contestants whose merits 
were about equal. We shall hope Miss Harding will meet with equal 
success in the county contest. Her effort, for one so young, was cer- 
tainly evidence of ability and careful prepar at ion. 

The spelling contest last year was a grand success and means of 
much benefit to the pupils of the county and this historical contest is 
of equal interest and benefit. The opera house was wellifilled on this 
occasion and even at the low price of admission paid all expenses^ and 
left a balance. — What Cheer Patriot, March 4. 



34 



Xibccts G:o\vnapip 



The Liberty Township Historical Contest held last Thursday 
evening was even better than had been anticipated. Although a very 
unfavorable evening there was a large crowd out. Every seat in the 
hall was occupied and some were standing Every district in the 
township was represented and each representative told in well chosen 
language about his school from the time it was first organized until 
the present time, and also what he expected his school to be in the 
future. The manner in which the orations were delivered showed 
that the representatives were well trained and also that the teachers 
had good material to work on when they were training them. 

Prof Trumbo, assisted by the teachers in the township, did 
much toward making the contest the sucoes'^ which it was. The re- 
ceipts at the door were over $20 — Tha Twinkler, Mar. 3. 

The people of the entire county took an active interest in these 
entertainments. They realized that the work was practical — a lesson 
in how to express thoughts on paper, a lesson in how to write legib- 
ly, a lesson in delivery and a lesson in memory. People want and de- 
mand practical things in this day. High school graduates are often 
allowed to take subjects for their orations concerning which they can- 
not possibly know much. Many of the subjects which they use would 
call forth the greatest efforts of the most able men and women of our 
time. And indeed I sometimes wonder if any one living could proper- 
ly treat such subjects. This one thing, has done more than any other to 
create a disgust on the part of the people toward commencement exer- 
cises and I am not much surprised to hear some people say that they 
are in favor of doing away entirely with commencement exercises. 
But the subject. My School is a subject concerning which every 
child between five and twenty-one years of age knows something. 
Children have had personal experience with it and in many cases 
they know more than their parents about it. The structure 
in which their school is held is one in which they live 
much o1 the time. These boys and girls -these "representa- 
tives stated facts in their compositions. They were sincere in what 
they said. The busiest and most obstinate man will listen to a child, 
and so will parents. How intense was the interest and attention of 
the people who listened to the^e boys and girls. No county superin- 
tendent, no teacher or school board would have dared to say many of 
the thing% which these children said even if these statements were 
facts and it these educational forces had dared to say these same 
things, the result would have brought little good to our schools. But 
coming from the hand, head and heart of children— these productions 
brought messages of good to all school interested persons. Most of 
these representatives know what home and comfort are. They have 
eyes to see, ears to hear and voices to proclaim their thoughts. How 
their voices went forth for beauty and comfort in schoolhouses 
and for attractive and irspiring schoolyards! I can never forget my 



35 

experience as I attended these sixteen entertainments*. I saw that 
this historical work could be made the foundation for an interest 
along agricultural lines in school work and I took advantage of the 
opportunity. "Uncle Henry'' Wallace and Prof. P. G. Holden prom- 
ised me that they would come to Sigourney to help organize a boys' 
agriculture club and I thought the best time to call the boys' conven- 
tion for this purpose would be March 26th— the day between the two 
night programs for the county historical contests. It was a pleasure 
for me to tell the people about this county convention as I visited 
schools and took part in the township entertainments because of the 
fact that the people were so much in sympathy with it. How the 
boys were delighted when I told them that this boys' convention 
would be called, that the boys for once at least would have a chance 
to do something, to say something and tc vote. They were enthusias- 
tic when I told them that "Uncle Henry" Wallace would be present 
and that Prof P. G. Holden would tell them about an excursion to 
Ames. But the girls of our county were disappointed when all atten- 
tion was given to the boys and so it was thought best to call a girls' 
convention for the purpose of organizing a girls' home culture club 
and speakers were secured accordingly. Here is our program: 

PART 2-COUNTY fflSTORICAL CONTEST. 

FRIDAY NIGHT— COUNTRY SCHOOLS 

One representative from every toivnithij) in the cmmty will take part 

PROGRAM 7:30 p. M. 

j Omar House 

■iw„c5« TP^„» D^„„ i Archie Bakehouse 

Musio-Four Boys ] Albert Bei nke 

i Henry Bei nke 

Steady Run Glenn Henninger 

Adams Sidney Axmear 

Warren Eva Allsup 

Clear Creek Tony Greiner 

Music— Autoharp Miss Clara Puher 

English iliver Alma McCombs 

Prairie Guy Strasser 

German Louie Strohman 

Liberty Sylvia Blaylock 

Music Four Boys 

Sigourney Kittie McBride 

Benton Willis A rganbright 

Van Buren Nora Evermann 

Lancaster Don Walker 

Music Sigourney Boys' Chorus 

Washington Fay Harding 

Lafayette Lloyd Fry 



■ 36 

•^^^'^son EffleShy 

^'^'''and OrlaChacey 

^'o^alSolo ClaraStewart 

DECISION OF JUDGES. 

All persons taking part in program will be admitted free. 

SATURDAY FORENOON 

A Boys' Convention for the purpose of orgarizing a Boys' Agri- 
cultural Club. 

PROGRAM 8:00 A. M. 

M"sic Four Boys 

Address -Henry Wallace, Des Moines, Editor of The Farm Journal 

Vocal Solo Miss Clara Stewart 

Address— Prof. P G. flolden— "An Excursion to Ames and What Boys 
Can do on The Farm." 

^"^'° Four Boys 

SATURDAY AFTERNOON. 

Girls' Convention to organize a Girls' Home Culture Club. 
PROGRAM— 1:30 p. M. 

Vlusic-Autonarp Miss Clara Pulver 

Lecture— "Iowa Birds and Their Nests," illustrated with stereopti- 

con views— John E. Cameron, Cedar Rapids. 

Vocal Solo Miss Clara Stewart 

Address-- 'What Girls can Do" Mrs. Alice Mendenhall 

The two day programs are free to everyone. Come and attend 
the entire session. Bring this program with you. 

SATURDAY NIGHT— GRADED SCHOOLS. 

One representative from every graded schoolin the county will be allow- 
ed to take part. 

PROGRAM 7:30 p. M. 

Music Four Boys 

Hedrick Hazel Henry 

Martinsburg Zetta Howell 

O'^^e Delano Starr 

Richland Georgia Kent 

Music-Autoharp Miss Clara Pulver 

I^eswick • Hugh Brady 

Hayesville : Virgie Griffin 

Coal Creek : .. ;. . .Bessie Stanley 

Lancaster Ivan Bott 

Music Four Boys 

^inioss AgnesHurd 

Webster Ruth Ealy 

Thornburg Carleton Hamilton 

Mus'c Four Boys 



'»7 

Gibson Harry Martin 

Sigourney : Salone Wheeler 

South English Emma Lester 

Delta Mabel Hankins 

Tocal Solo Miss Clara Stewart 

IXBOISION OP JUDGES 

An admission fee of 25 cents will be charged. Persons taking 
part in progmm will be admitted free. 

These two days will long be remembered by the boys and girls 
of Keokuk county For the contests and the conventions held on 
these two days constituted the greatest educational event ever held 
in our counr y. 

One hundred and five boys joined the bovs' agricultural club 
and forty-three girls joined the girls' home culture club. This was a 
large number for a beginning and the membership is rapidly growing 
larger. 

It gives one enthusiasm to notice that some of these boys walk- 
ed six, seven or eight miles to get here in time for the the first pro- 
gram of the session. Did it pay them? If you had heard them clap 
their hands after they had listened to Henry Wallace. Prof P G. 
Holden, John Cameron or Mrs. Alice Mendenhall> the question would 
be answered. How intense was their interest. How practical were 
the suggestions made by the speakers. All in all, it was the greatest 
treat ever offered to the boys and girls of our county. 

They took advantage of it even if they did have to sacrifice 
some what, even if they did have to walk a long distance, even if 
they did have to remain in Sigourney until Monday. And they will 

hail with delight the time when these four speakers can return to 
Sigourney to talk to them. 

The names of the pupils receiving the five highest marks as a 
result of the contest Friday night are given below in their order: 

Orla Chacey, Eichland Township. 

Lloyd Fry, Lafayette " 

Eva Allsup, Warren " 

Sylvia Blaylock, Liberty " 

Don Walker, Lancaster. '' 

The names of the pupils receiving the five highest marks as a 
result of the contest Saturday night are given below in their order: 

Emma Lester, South English, Iowa. 

Salome vv heeler, Sigourney, Iowa. 

Carleton Hamilton, Thornburg, Iowa 

Agnes Hurd. Kinross, Iowa. 

Delano Starr, Ollie, Iowa. 



Part 3—*' My School — Past, Present and Future/* 




In the year 186.3, during the 
trying times of the Civil War, 
wiien the nation was divided 
against itself, this part of Iowa 
had not been settled long. 
Schools v/ere scarce, and al- 
though rr.ost of the able-bodied 
men had enlisted, those who re- 
mained at home were anxious to 
educate their children. So they 
leased a piece of land ten rods 
square of Anthony Sunnyfrank 
for 99 years, or as long as It 
should be used for school pur- 
poses. This land is located one- 
half mile west of Kinross, near 
what was then l^nown as the 
Westfall corner, and is now 
known as the Moler farm. 

AGNES iiuKD. On this lot a schoolhouse 

known as the "Hawkeye" was built— a one-roomed building, facing 
the south, with three windows on each side. The ground had neither 
trees nor well on it. The water was carried from the Westfall corner. 

In 1880 a new schoolhouse was built in the town of Kinross on a 
lot 8 rods square, on The corner of North and Main Street, which was a 
very beautiful and healtiiy. location. This building is 24x36 feet fac- 
ing the east v\ ith four windows on each side, was painted green on the 
inside, white on the outside, and was heated by a stove. There are a 
few nice shade trees, also a good well and pump on this ground. 

The old "Hawkeye" schoolhouse was sold, moved to town and 
furniture kept in it for some time. Later it was fitted up for a dwell- 
ing house, and it is now owned by Joe Moler of Iowa City and is occu- 
pied by Dr. Boone. 

About the year 1 90!', the people of Kinross began to awaken to the 
educational interest of their children. The sohoolbuilding was too 
small, and one teacher insufficient to teach the number of pupils. Some- 
thing would have to be done. They would be obliged to enlarge the 
building or build a new schoolhouse. The school board called a meet- 



39 

ing and held an election to decide whether a new school house should 
be built. It was found that the majority of the voters were in favor 
of building. The old schoolbuildir.g and grounds were given to W. H. 
Wagaman in exchange for the new site of 2.31 acres on North Street. 
This is one of the most beautiful and healthy locations to be found in 
the vicinity. 

In the old schoolhouses, spelling schools, lectures, and liter- 
aries were held. Sunday school was also taught there until the 
Methodist church was built. In 1901 the second schoolhouse was 
repainted and fitted up for a dwelling hcuse: in 190.3 it was remodeled 
again, and has since been used by an organization known as the 
"Mystic Toilers." 

In 1901 the present schoolbuilding 4ix48 was erected by O. H 
Dunlap of Kalona, at the cost of about $4500. 'n'. This is a two-story 




KINROSS — NUMBER 1 LIBERTY TOWNSHIP. 

slate roofed, brick building, facing the south, with a door and six 
windows in front and a basement underneath. This building has 
four schoolrooms, two halls and four cloak rooms. There is a double 
stairway and there are three small closets on the lower floor. Each 
school room has five windows. The windows of three rooms are sup- 



40 

plied with sash curtains and window sliades of which some roll and 
some do not. The west room on the lower floor contains 31 single 
seats, one recitation seat, the teacher's desli and chair and a good 
Cornish organ. The east room on the lower floor contains 44 single seats 
one recitation seat, the teacher's desk and chair and a table for 
primary work. The east room on the upper floor has twelve double 
seats ,the teacher's desk and chair. The west room on the upper 
floor has never been used. 

Heretofore the Kinross school has had no library, but this 
year a hbrary of seventy-one choice volumes was purchased. 

The building is not painted on the outside, but on the inside 
the work is finished in hard oil. We have very few pictures. Among 
those that we have are the pictures of the Presidents, Leslie M Shaw 
and Prince Henry. 

The school is well supplied with maps and we have one globe 
and a Webster's dictionary, but we have no lamps, no charts 
and no apparatus. 

The two rooms on the lower floor and the halls are heated by a 
furnace. This furnace is a very poor one. It will heat the rooms 
but it takes a great amount of coal to do so. The hot air comes in at 
the top of the room, and the cold goes out at the bottom so while 
your head is hot your feet are very cold. This furnace could please 
no one except a coal dealer. The east room on the upper floor when 
used was heated by a stove. 

The children are called to school morning and noon by a fine 
bell which was paid for by giving entertainments and by popular 
subscription. The bell is located in the tower on the top of the 
building. 

There is a large playground on each side of the schoolhouse. 
The yard, on which f^ere are some sidewalks, a good well and pump, 
and about 2':iO trees, is fenced on three sides only b/ a wire fence. 
There is no fence in front. 

Among the many teachers that taught in the old schoolhouses 
were Mr. Brower, Mr. Samuel Potts, Miss Myrtle Rose, Miss Loyd, 
Miss Nettie Pine, Miss Nora Weimer, vir. Mitchener, MissZoe Funk; 
William Wine Edgar Squires, and Miss Olga Cross. And among the 
many pupils who went there, were the Funks of whom Harry Funk 
Is an editor, John Funk telegraph operator, Zoe Funk school teacher; 
the Molers of whom Joe Moler was a merchant and lawyer, Ida Moler, 
school teacher; Joe Seitsinger who was a soldier in the Philippines 
now a telegraph operator in Wellman; Loyd Walters a minister of the 
gospel and many successful farmers of whom I will mention, William 
Wagaman, Thomas wagaman and Andrew Moler. 



41 

The teachers who have taujjrht since tlie present scliooUiouse 
has been built areas follows: fir.s^ term, Principal H. A. FTawk and 
Miss Olga Cross; second term, Prin. Hawk, Mrs Hawk and Miss Byrle 
Conger. This year there are two teacher, Principal H. P. Trumbo. 
of Warren county, Iowa, and Miss Jennie Miller, of Sourh English, 
Iowa. 

The scliool was not graded until 19i^l when Prin. Hawk and 
Miss Cross bejan the work of grading 

The regularity and punctuality of the pupils is almost perfe'^t. 

The visits made by the parents and school board who seem to 
take a great pride in tlie school are very numerous. 

So far none of the pupils have graduated here, but this year 
there will be two graduates Miss Genevieve Fischer and Miss Lucy 
Lytle. 

There are scholars from the adjoining districts now attending 
school, and we liope that in the near future those districts will join us 
and make ours a consolidated school, as the building is large and is 
admirably situated for such a school. We would then emoloy more of 
the best teachers, our library would be one that any town might well 
be proud of. All necessary material for kindergarten and primary 
work could be furnished, also the necessary material for high school 
work, in fact all the modern apparatus necessary to make a school 
perfect. 

Pictures might be placed in the rooms to make them more 
pleasant and home like for the teachers and pupils who spend so much 
time there. A new furnice could be placed in the basement so not 
only the lower but also the upper rooms could be heated by steam. 

I would like to see a fine fence placed in front of the school 
house, a nice lawn carefully kept, with gravel walks through the 
grounds to the fine grove which we will soon have. 
Beside the walks, shrubs and rare flowers could be planted, 
the pupils could care for them which would aid them 
in their study of nature and art, and also make the ground attractiv*^ 
for the parents and visitors who would delight in taking a walk 
around the schoolground. On the lawn I would like to see a playing 
fountain with its soft musical sound wliere we could see the beautiful 
tints of the rainbow in the falling drops of water. 

I would like to see school gardens introduced in our school so 
that the pupils could be taught something in the agriculture line as 
that is one of the chief occupations in our state and a work shop and 
tools for manual training. Then a great many of the pupils would be 



42 

more interested than if only certain lines of study were taken up. 
Tile girls, too. could learn the art of coolfing', sewing and all accom- 
plishments necessary to make lioraes beautiful and happy. I would 
also like to see a department for the instruction in the higher branch- 
es of literature, art, and science, also a commerical high school which 
would go deeper into the ethics of commercial activity than a busi- 
ness college. 

It is to be borne in mind that the children now growing up will 
soon take their places among active men of business, become taxpay- 
ers and lawmakers. Therefore with an agricultural school, manual 
training, the elective system, commercial education and moral train- 
ing, the education of the heart and hand as well as the mind would 
be complete and the pupilsvvho graduate from such a school will be 
an honor to the community in w^ich they live, and be well prepared 
for any position, or vocation in life, whether that of the successful 
farmer or the leader of our nation. 

Then my school, whicli had its beginning in the nations terrible 
crisis, which was neglected so long and improved so rapidly the last 
few years, will be ranked not only among the best in Keokuk county 

but in the state of Towa. 

***** 




IN writing a history of ray 
school I liave taken much pleas 
ure in putting my thoughts to- 
gether and I shall now endeavor 
1o present them to you in a few 
m'nutes 

I have learned that the first 
school taught in Thornburg was 
held in a building owned by Mr. 
N. Holdeman, who is now 
cashier of the Thornburg Sav- 
ings Bank. The school was 
managed on the subscription 
plan and Miss Nettie Meade, 
daughter of Oscar Meade, who 
now lives near Sigourney, was 
the teacher. The instigators of 
this school were Messrs. A. 
Branson, D. W. Waites, C Cox, 
S. Hogue and S. F. Bart^er. 
This school was held for a peri- 
od of six months when the popu- 
lation of the town had increased so rapidly that the large attendance 



CARLETON HAMILTON. 



43 

at school compelled the people at Thornburg to erect a new school 
building of greater size. A site in the northeastern part of town was 
chosen as a suitable location. 

The house contained two good rooms and halls which provided 
plenty of room to accommodate the number of pupils. All modern 
equipments of the day were furnished to make them comfortable. 

Some of the boys and girls who have studied under the roof of 
this building and have become well known in these parts are G. H. 
Pendleton, mail carrier, route No. 1 , Thornburg; C. C Williamson, 
bookkeeper, First National Bank, Sigourney; Frank Beatty, student 
at Wesleyan University, Mount Pleasant; Grace Schrader, student at 
State Normal School, Cedar Falls; Cecil Hamilton, with the Big Four 
Railroad; Ima Seymour and Lena Santee, both teachers in the Thorn- 
burg schools. 

In the years 1894 95 the mining industry became so prosperous 
that the population was almost doubled. The school building was 
then condemned as not useful for school purposes and was sold to the 
Grand Army Post and moved to the main part of town wliere it has 




THORNBURG PUBLIC SCDOOLS, PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP, NO. C 

since been known as the G. A. R. hall. It is used for lodges and all 
social occasions 

Our town now boasts of a beautiful schoolbuilding 4.5x50 feet 



44 

which is built in modern style. It was erected in 1896 and is located 
in the northeastearn part of town. We have a beautiful campus 
which contains 80 square rods. A good collection of trees consisting 
of maples, catalpas, box-elders and elms afford us much shade. We 
did have a well but the water was condemned unfit for use and up to 
this time we have not succeeded in getting a new one. The fence was 
destroyed long ago by the boys climbing upon it. It gave way by sec- 
tions and furnished the boys many a tumble. The appearance of the 
schoolhouse outside was helped greatly by a new coat of paint that it 
received last summer. The walks were also improved by repairing 
and generally the looks of our schoolhouse and schoolground, I think, 
rank with the looks of any in Keokuk county. 

The building contains four rooms 24x33 feet, and three of them 
are in use. There are three halls — a large one down stairs which is 
48x9^ feet and two upstairs, which are each 24x9i feet. We have 
more than 125 seats and desks in the schoolhouse. The desks are too 
high for the short people and too low for the tall people but taking 
them on an average they answer the purpose nicely. 

The building is heated by a hot water apparatus which heats 
the rooms to a satisfactory temperature. Much credit is given the 
janitor, Mr. Shibley, concerning the heating of the building. 

We have a good supply of maps, globes and charts but they are 
badly worn and need to be replaced with new ones. We have a good 
library containing 150 books of stories of adventure, and fiction, three 
sets of histories, and one set of the Britanica Encyclopedia, making 
in all about 200 books in the library. 

The rooms on the inside are very pretty. Our newly whitened 
wails are made attractive by a set of Brown's famous pictures which 
give them quite a domestic appearance. The pride of our school is a 
portrait of the late President Wm. McKinley. The portrait was pre- 
sented us by the president of the schoolboard Beside this we have 
several portraits of novelists, poets and historians. 

The windows aie adorned with window curtains and flowers. 
The curtains are somewhat worn but serve the purpose for which they 
are intended. Among our flowers are geraniums, oxalis, callas, cactus 
and a fine large begonia, besides others which I have not mentioned, go 
to make ray school pleasant and attractive. Much credit is given the 
present schoolboard for the interest they show in our school. They 
are experienced and manage our school wisely. They are making a re- 
vision of the course cf study which we hope will improve the condi- 
tion of our school Our parents show their interest by giving us 
their encouragement but they fail to make an appearance in our 
schoolroom I wish the parents and schoolboard would feel it their 



45 

duty to visit US more frequently. Tiie pupils show their interest by 
their rej^ularity of attendance. The attendance has been so regular 
that the register shows a clean, white page. The pupils who are 
neither absent nor tardy are awarded a certiticate at the end of each 
month which is very nice. 

t hope to see tlie day when the Thornburg school will stand at 
the head of all the schools of Keokuk county. Our teachers are aim- 
ing to bring the school up to this standard and 1 hope tiiat by another 
year the untinished room will be completed and an additional teach- 
er provided for us. I think our worn out etiuipments should be re- 
placed with new and better ones. 

Next to hom'i is school and I think school should be made just as 
pleasant as home— not cnly inside, but outside as well. T want the 
boys and girls who go out from the Thornburg school to be those 
worthy of an office of trust. The coming nation will be made up of 
the boys and girls of today and I hope to see one boy from the Thorn- 
burg school become a State Governor, or batter still, a U. S. Presi- 
dent. 

We are daily being taught the virtues of true life and if we 
zealously labor for the right, success is certain. 

***** 




DI.<5TRTCT Number Eight, 
Public School of Jackson 
Township, was organized — well, 
I am sorry to say I can't tell 
w' en, nor can I find anyone else 
who can, alt* ough I in.:)uired of 
such parties as Robert Mars' all. 
.Tacob ITalferty, Mrs. i^Iary 
Davis and others of the earlier 
sel tlei's: but no one seen::ed to 
know just when it was oi'ganized. 
Therefore, I am almost led to 
believe it was just always iiere. 
Tlie first school building was 
erected near the center of the 
present school grounds. This 
building was destroyed by tire 
in 1872. Tlie following year the 
contract was let to S. W. Pey- 
DBLANo Starr nolds to erect a new building. 

This building was finally sold to Capt. D. C. Baker and remodeled 
into a tine two-story dwelling, and tlie present building erected to 



4B 

meet the demands of tbe growing district. 

Some of the earlier teachers were: Mr. Dodds, Jordan Halferty, 
Rebecca Jones, Edwin Chacey, Van Marshall, Pierce Halferty, A. H. 
Tutler, C. L. Starr and Guy Durbin. Mr. Ed Duree and Miss Jessie 
Gemm ill are our present teachers. For the main part, this school 
has always been successful in securing good teachers. 

Among some of the earlier pupils we might mention "Wilson 
Fye and Guy Halferty of Ollie, Mrs. Ollie Comparet of Iowa City, 
after whom the little city of Ollie was named, and Geo. Worley 
who is now in ISTorth Dakota 

Our present school building is a two-story structure, 26x40 feet 
and consists of two rooms. It is heated by steam, but it is not giving 
the best of satisfaction. I believe stoves are the bsst for small 
schools. On account of our furnace we get a half holiday every once 
in a while. Our school building is painted on the outside and papered 
and painted on the inside. We have a few decorations. The build- 
ing needs shingling badly, for when it rains very hard we pupils in 
the upper room come near getting drowned. Here and there, and 
in fact almost everywhere, the water comes through the roof on books, 
desks and children's heads. The seats are in fairly good condition 
except having been exposed to the jack-knives of the boys. I am in- 
deed sorry to say we have no library, but we have an encyclopedia, 
howevei". which is an excellent thing. We also have a globe, a plane- 
tary, several maps, two physiology charts, a music chart and an un- 
abridged dictionary, but no stana for it. At the present time there 
are fifty-two pupils in the primary room and forty-five in the advanced 
room. 

The number of visits made by pa^'ents is somewhat limited. 

The future of our school is certainly encouraging. Already the 
school board and citizens have taken action on the matter and bonds 
have been voted for the moving of the present building to the center 
of the school ground and two more rooms added to it. This will give 
us a four-room building which I hope will be well lighted, seated 
with single seats and properly ventilated. I hope that the school 
board will realize that it is their duty to see that the rooms are prop- 
erly decorated Beautiful house plants should be provided for the 
rooms for I believe the school room should be kept as neat and tidy 
a-" a well kept home. Then, again, the school ground should be 
improved: a tasty and substantial fence should enclose it. This fence 
sl^.ould be painted and kept in good repair. A part of the school 
ground should be set apart for a flower garden. In this garden may 
be cultivated beautiful flowers. This will afford us children some- 



4r 

thing uselnl to do and not only that, but will beautify the school 
groniid and by so doing it cannot help but instil! in the children a 
love lor tlie beautiliil and a tendency for the good things in life. 

* * * * * 




LONG years ago. it seems 
ages to the girls and boys of to- 
day when there were no land- 
marks upon the broad rolling 
prairies of Iowa, a little band of 
settlers crossed the INIississippi 
River, and travelled westward 
until they reached the present 
site of Soutli English. They 
built a few log cabins and for 
convenience sake called tlieir 
new home Houston's Point. 
Here in ore of these primitive 
dwellings originated our tirst 
school whicli was taught by Mr. 
Orr in the fall of lS5;i The 
teacher not being of very pgl- 
lished manners the scho.';l was 
shortlived and was soon suc- 
ceeded by another wliich was 
taught by Sophronia Matthews 
in the little log cabin of Mercy 
Fasold. "Aunt Mercy" would 
take her babe and st.ny with a 
neighbor during sciiool hours, 
and she received for the use of 
her home her fuel, and tuition 
of her three children. In 18i"5 
the town of South P]nglish was surveyed: hnnber was hauled from 
Iowa City and Burlington and dwellir)^s and business hionses erected. 
As tlie population increased the people decided that they must have 
a schoolbuilding in which to educate their children. A generous 
land owner named Rodman donated tlie land on which I>r. Newsome's 
house now stands, but Thomas Seerley persuaded them to exchange 
it for a plat of ground located two blocks south of the old town well. 
The s-'lioolhouse was a one-story building with wooden slabs for seats, 
and desks along the sides which were used in writing. Here our 
grandparents learned their A. B. C's and how to write with quill 
pens. Tlien came Reading, Arithmetic, Grammar. Geography—and 



EMMA LESTER 



Spelling. How near I came forgetting that good old study which our 
grand-parents tell of today with kindling eyes! The "spelUn' scliooh' 
was to them the life of their scoool-days. On every Tuesday night 
the best spellers from neighboring schools would assemble in the 
little schoolhouse for an old-fashioned spelling match. Good order 
was generally preserved and no second trial allowed on a word. Many 
pupils had whole pages of their spelling-books memorized and in the 
contests our school would nearly always come out victorious. They 
also had "jography schools" noted for their exhibitions of vo- 
cal talent for the shrillest treble and the deepest bass would join in 
singing the states and capitals to the tune of "Go tell Aunt Rhoda 
her old gray goose is dead.' The schoolhouse was also used for church 
services, political speaking and during the winter months the boys 
and girls would come here to sinj Do, Re and Mi under the instruct- 
tion of John Wallace, a singing master of considerable reputation. 
The first school teacher was Manasses Flory, a young man of pleasing 
countenance and kindly eye, who received $2tJ per month and tauglit 
from two to three months during the winter. The next teacher was 
Thomas Seerle y, father of the Presic'ent of our State Normal School. 
He tauglit for $35 a month and his duties were to quote his own 
words, 'To make and mend quill pens, to set copies for 
writing lessons and to hear the pupils read and spell. 

One term I had eiglity-six 
(86) enrolled and eighteen (18) 
classes that expected to have 
four recitations a day. We 
had no adopted clas.s-books 
and some had none at all." 
Mr. Seerley was one of those 
(piick-tempered school mas- 
ters who believed in the 
practice of that old maxim 
"Spare 'the rod and spoil the 
child.", Am.ong his scholars 
we find Homer and John 
Seerley who have gained great 
fame and honor in the educa- 
tional and political worlds. 
Jfanifr Srciiei/ ranks first 
among all educators of Iowa 
and we may justly be proud 
that he received his start in 
THOMAS SEERLEY hfc ill the Soutli English 

schools. His brother John has distinguished himself as lawyer and 




4i 

statesman having been Representative to Congress from tlie First 

Congressional District. 

Their father Thomas 

is at present residing in 

Iowa Citj' having attained 

the g-ood old age of eighty- 
three (83) years, but wlien 

he comes home we listen 

with delight to his remi 

nescences of those days 

that he spent in tlie little 

schoolhouse the witnessi 

of so many scenes of pleas- 
ure in which tlie young! 

folks participated. Here! 

they would laugh, talk! 

and have a good time just 

as we do today. Here the 

bright-colored threads of 

romance were woven by 

the lads and lassies and 

the foundation laid for 

many a good character. 

But by-and-by they grew 

tired of the old school- 
house, they began to de- 
spise its nomely walls and homer h sberley, 
it was finally sold to Au Prcs. Iowa State Normal School. Cedar FaW 
gust Xleinschmidt who turned it into a machine shop; later it was 
used as a Free Methodist meeting-house, and lastly made an ignominious 
exit as a saloon and was destroyed by tire. The new school- 
house was completed in 1869 — an attractive building painted 
white with pretty green shutters, and wonder of wonders 
a school bell! The tirst principal was John A. Benson 
an ambitious fellow who was book-crazy. He proved himself 
one of the best instructors our school has ever had, but avarice led 
him from paths of integrity and he became involved in one of the 
greatest land-fraud conspiracies the western states have ever known. 
In 1879 the Burlington railroad was built through the town and it 
cut off a corner of the school grounds. This led the school board to 
the believe that it was not a suitable place for a schoolhouse and they 
started to move it. They got it into the highway when they were 
stopped by an injunction issued by the citizens. The building was 
left in the highway until tbe road-supervisor served a notice upon 
them to remove it. After this the county superintendent was called 




50 

Mpon to settle affairs and the biiildiri}? was taken back to its old site 
but was by this time totally unlit for fervice, so the school board rent- 
ed Hattie Israel's brick buildino;- and school was held here during- the 
winter of 1882-83 tauj?-ht by Lulu Jackson of Sigourney. In the spring- 
a special meeting of the board was called by the superintendent who 
proposed calling an election to decide whether to build a new school 
house or not. Two locations were also to be voted on: one and one 
half (H) acres of Rodman's Park, and two (2) acres of Noffsinger's 
meadow. 




SOUTH ENGLISH— NUMBER 1, ENGLISH RIVER TOWNSHIP 



The election resulted in favor of a new schoolhouse to be situated 
on Rodman's Park. The sum of four hundred and tlfty (450) dollars 
was paid for the grounds and the district was bonded for three thousand 
(3000) dollars to build the schoolhouse— a two-story, four-roomed 
building, the ground-plan of which was 40x44 ft. Three rooms were 
furnished with sciool apparatus and were ready for school work by 
fall with Arnold McCay as Principal, Maude Roberts and Ida McWil- 
li.ims as assistants. 



51 



iVnioiii;' students and instructors who liave been associated with 
our school during its past life are: Alice Ileald Mendenhall once a 
member of the St;!te Board of Education, Prin. of the Fairfield High 
School for six (()) years, Co. Sup't of JelTerson Co. for six (6) years: 
Frank Shinabarger, one of the best postal clerks in Iowa: three doc- 
tors— C. L. Ileald. AVm Fit zwater and the late T. H. McWilliams; 
Ida White Robb, daugliter of Hon. Fred E. White, and her brother 
Virgil, now a risiiij^ lawyer of Des Moines, also lawyers Earl Smith of 
Mason City. Seth Hall of Cat., and Samuel West Jr., State Senator 
in Ohio and also an eminent attorney: Kale McWilliams Ex-Co. Re- 
corded, D. N. Cotfman Ex-Co. Treasurer and lastly our three County 
Superintendents —S. A. Potts, W. H. Gemmil and Cap ?]. Miller. 
Mr. Oemmil IS at present the Sup't of Schools at Dallas Center and 
we all know that "Our Cap" is one of the best Superintendents Keo- 
kuk county lias ever had and also I lie youngest member of tiie Educa- 
tional Council of the State Teachers' Association. The South Eng- 
lish schools are at present under the able supervision of (r. I). Hor- 
ras and although t he number of pupils is not as large as formerly the 
scliool is bettering itself day by day. Last summer our enterprising 
school board gave tlie .schooibuilding a much needed coat of paint and 
placed a side-walk in front of the sclioolground. A few years before a 
wire fence had been added, and slate blackboards placed in the school- 
rooms. On the walls of our schoolroom we have several go d pictures 
and among them is one that we prize most highly- a portrait of 
Homer Seerley which he presented to us last year. We have a library 
of 4o0 volumes including tlclion, history, poetry, encyclopaedias and a 
good Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, and the High School through 
its own efforts possesses an organ. The .schoolgrounds are well loca- 
ted and afford an ideal place for oui- game cf Basket Ball. With par- 
liamentary rules as its basis the Orio Literary Society holds semi- 
monthly sessions while the President with a broad smile has his first 
lesson in calling to order tlie unruly ones among liis schoolmates. But 
alas as Pope says "Man never is but always to be blest" and with all 
of these past favors we still plead for better educational advantages. 
We want the schools of English River township centralized and in the 
center of the township a beautiful building recognized for miles 
around— not for its beauty of architecture alone but for its inner life. 
We will have this wish gratified just as soon as the tax-payers realize 
the advantages of the consolidated school not only to their children 
but to their pocket-books. ' The day is inevitably drawing near when 
the little red schoolhouse with its half-dozen barefoot urchins and its 
"school-marm" will be a thing of the past. These boys and girls and 



52 

perhaps their instructor will all be students in the centralized schof 1 
and will enjoy the priv'ilei,^e ol' preparing themselves at home not 
only for the Fresliraan but for the Junior year of the State Univer- 
sity. Successful graduation from college or university is one of the 
greatest events i i the life of any man or woman, and it is time that 
the school patrons realize the fact t' at education is the key that will 
open the doors o' success for their children. Come with me and I will 
show you that ideal school which we clierish in our hearts only as a 
bright dream tliat will fade away. We shall find this academic do- 
main situated in the most healthful and picturesque portions of the 
township The' college tauildin-s, poems in architecture are cluster- 
ed around a tine campus rendered attractive by trees and sparkling 
fountains and glim p.ses of lake and lawn. The main building, ti^e 
center of the institutional life, is truly a temple of knowledge 

In it we find the vast ;issembly ha"l capable of seating all of t^e 
pupils of the township: we also visit the various recitation rooms A 
Greek Room with its friezes, its columns, its statuary is an inspira- 
tion to Greek students, and while it dazzles our eyes it carries us back 
to those ages of long ago Listen! sweet strains of music draw us ir- 
resistibly toward the music room and adjoining it is a sunshiny room 
with well-tilled book-shelves and long tables. This is our library, a 
gift from Andrew Carnegie tliat kind Scotchman who has gladdened 
the hearts of so many young Americans by his munificent gifts. We 
visit the gymnasium, the museum and the drawing room, a delight- 
ful apartment, where tl-.e students entertain their friends and tlie 
college societies hold tfieir social gatherings. In other departments 
are instructors in manual training and domestic science. We are 
t.ighly pleased with tliis for what is better than to educate these boys 

and girls, the home makers of the future, to lead happy useful lives 
in the work that God has planned for them to do. As we pass into 
the hall the clock sounds forth, tlie summons of the departing day and 
before we go, let us visit the chapel. The last rays of the sun shining 
through the art windows cast a halo of glory about the room. We 
feel His divine presence and know that the institution is blessed by 
Him who is the wisest of all- His wijsdom is intl.nite. 



53 




ORLA E CIIACEY 



THE Star sclioolhouse is situa- 
ted three miles west of Rich- 
land on tlie Sju^ourne.y road in a 
beautiful and healthful locality. 

From its doors in summer is 
seen a varied landscape, here 
and there a beautiful dwelling 
with its lawn and lovely trees, 
its flowers, garden and orchard. 

Yonder the pastures decked 
witli beautiful trees, around 
which gather tfie horses, cattle 
and sheep proected from the 
noon-day sun, and yonder the 
lovely fields of golden grain and 
rustling corn, stretching far in 
the distance till the scene 
kisses the bending sky. 

Amid such surroundings the 
heart of the student will be in 
spired and its better nature developed. 

Yes, our Star school is one of the galaxy of Stars in the public 
school system of our grand country which makes the American na- 
tion supreme and the admiration of the world. 

The old schoolhouse was built in the fifties and stood the storms 
of the years until 1874 when it was sold for a barn and moved one 
mile west where it stands to this day as a landmark of the long a'^o. 

It was a small frame building, its furniture the renowned slab 
seat of back wood's times, a writing desk along one wall, a blackboard. 
a stool and desk for the teacher, and an abundant supply of well 
seasoned hickory rods, and the mischievous boy well knew by per- 
sonal experience the truth of the saying of the wise man, "that the 
rod is for the fool's back." 

Tile teacher sometimes boarded around among the scholars, 
generally was his own janitor and his requisite for the winter school 
was phj^sical strength, handy with the rod, with .some knowledge of 
reading, writing and arithmetic. 

In the estimate of tlie big boys, the success of the school de- 
pended altogether on the size and strength of the teacher. A la,dy 
teacher never need apply for the winter term. Such opinions pre- 
vailed in their day but changed and passed away with the old school- 
house. 



54 

A new one built the same year, on the same plan, but larger, 
dates the ending of the old system and the beginning of a new and 
better one 

Religious services, geography, singing, spelling and writing 
schools also very interesting literary societies have been held in it, 
and Old Star was noted for its good spellers who never knew defeat 
and the famous debates held under her roof. For miles they came to 
attend the spelling or debate and invariably victory crowned the ef- 
forts of the noble young men and women known as the Star boys and 
girls. 

When Abe Lincoln, once a country boy, standing amid the 
prairies of Illinois said, "this land cannot be half slave and half free," 
and for that reason as that dark cloud of Civil War settled like a pall 
over our dear land four of her boys answered our country's call, and 
in the Spanish-American War two otfered their services to stay the 
hand of oppression . 

Thirty young men and women have gone out from this school 
as teachers, two lawyers, a doctor and a minister. None ever readied 
the presidential chair but most of them settled on farms, as farmers 
or farmers' wives, as the years went by. 

Methinks there is no vocation so independed and lovely as the 
farmer's life. It gives him health and strength and brings him in 
touch with nature in ail of iier lovelines. Away from the crowded 
city with its trafic and temptations, out in the fields or by the silvery 
stream, where the trees and hills and dale are carpeted with green, 
how good to hold communion with nature and her God. 

No, none of them reached high positions of eminence in this 
life, but some have passed to tlie life beyond, being lovers of the hum- 
ble Nazarene here, are now in the great scliool of Heaven, "Where 
the sun never sets and the leaves never fade. " 

In a description of the schoolhouse as it is today, we would say: 
that it is surrounded by 80 square rods of schoolground fenced only on 
two sides, therefore it seems impossible to have any flowers or vege- 
tation except grass and weeds. 

At one time we did boast of a small lilac bush but it did not re- 
ceive the right kind of care so after a hard straggle it ceased to exist. 

As there is no well on the ground the pupils are obliged to 
carry drinking water from a neighbor's well. 

The twenty-three shade trees that have stood there for twenty 
eight years still extend their green branches to protect the children 
from the hot summer sun as they seek refuge under their friendly 
shelter, after tbe merry game in which all^have joined. 



55 

The schoolhouse, size 24 by 32 feet, is tlie largest in Richland 
township. It is thirty years old and in good cocdition. A few years 
ago it was painted on the outside and a new brick foundation put 
under it. 

Six years ago part new seats were -added for the comfort of the 
pupils and last winter a new stove. 

A board blackboard extends across one end of the room and there is 
a small one on the opposite wall. A long bench under the black-board 
serves as a recitation seat. There are 16 double seats and desk in 
good condition, also a table and chair for the teacher. 

Tlie walls are beautifully decorated with pictures and other 
pretty articles placed there by childish liands. 

Tasty window shades well hung, 
Protect us from the blazing sun. 

Webster's dictionary, globe, set of maps, br. oms, lamps, scissors 
and other useful articles are found in our schoolhouse. 

There is a circulating library the books of which a ciianged each 
year and new ones added. At present our library consists of 18 books. 
There are histories and other books of information for tlie older pupils 
and story books for tlie little folks. 

The pupils are quite regular as none of them like to have an 
absent mark. Wlien it comes to wading the mud or snow or facing 
the bitter cold wind you cannot discouraged them. It takes courage 
to leave the warm home fire and take a walk of from one to one and 
a half miles in the bitter cold. 

Tiiey are (juite punctual as a tardy mark is almost as bad as an 
absent one. 

We seldom iiave any visitors except on special occasions. The 
people of the district are all so industrious they cannot take time to 
visit us often. 

The schoolhou.se of the future shall be situated near the center 
of the township on some lovely elevation. 

Houses that are now back in the fields, shall be moved to the 
public road that the cliildren may be taken in a convenient covered 
carriage or a car over good roads or iron rails to school and returned 
liome at the close of the .school liours. 

Its appearance from without shall be stately and sliall be called 
the schoolhouse beautiful. It shall be open to the four winds of 
Heaven and its key of freedom evermore lie in the pathway of tl.e 
poorest comer. Standing in tlie center of a five acre campus, enclosed 
by a tasty and substantial fence, well seeded to blue grass, planted in 
Uees and decided here and there with beautiful flowers and ornament # 



56 

al plants, a well and place of refug-e in case of a storm. Under the 
trees shall be rustic seats where the cliildren will come and sit be- 
neath tlieir branches listening- to tbe sonj,"- of the birds perched upon 
their leafy boughs. Thus with nature's charm and purity about them 
they shall be led in the noblest paths. Sucli a scene and surroundings 
shall leave an evergreen on memory's brow whicii shall not fade while 
time, mind and reason hold. A memory which shall not fail where- 
soever a heart shall be found that beats to the transports of honor 
and love. 




MUM15HU ,;, inClILANU XOWNSHU'. 

The soft summer breeze, touchir>g the leaves and flowers with 
its gentle zephyrs calling from the haart the softer and finer nature 
of the being to clothe with a sweeter love and softer sympathy the ex- 
panding soul. 

Within, the schoolhouse beautiful sluill not lack art. Nothing 
that belongs to humad need in the moulding of the plastic life of the 
child shall be too costly for within its walls. There shall be school 
rooms enough, a vestibule or hall and a large room used as a work- 
shop and play-room. It shall be heated by a furnace, lighted by gas 
or electricty and well ventilated. Contain comfortable single seats 
and desks or upholstered chairs and tables, slate black-boards, tasty 
window curtains, an organ and piano, songbooks, a large library and 
ahd everything needed to help instruct the child. 

On the walls shall be maps and beautiful pictures. Shelves in 
the windows shall be tilled with plants and flowers. The work-room 
shall contain tools, tables, material and all things needful to teach 



the boy and girl industry- Here they sluill keep everything in order, 
whereon rainy days thay may be protitably entertained during re- 
creation. Tlie student shall not be compelled to sit in liis seat from 
morning till nigiit, but here and there he may pass his time making 
the school life home-like. 

T^e teacher shall be a christian-lovina^, kind and true, able to 
lead the child in the way of usefulness to his home, his country and 
his God. The student guided by love and placed upon his honor shall 
build a character strongly fortified against the evils and temptations 
of life. Thus armored and cultured as he goes forth in the great 
struggle and battle of life he shall be able to stand, and the world 
shall be made better and happier by his having lived. 

Tlie home life with its bve. its heirthstone, and its charms, 
truly is "Home Sweet Home."' 

But when the .school to be shall become a second home, where 
order and harmony shall prevail, where love shall hold her mild 
dominion, where teacher and pupil sliall be as one, where knowledge 
shall increase and home and country and God be ent ironed, then 

shall it be our ideal. 

* * * * * 

(3UR schoolhouse was built 
in the year of \8VA and has 
been very well attended by 
pupils of our district and 
some of other districts until 
recently. For the last live 
or seven years pupils of our 
district have been attendiijg 
school in three ditferent 
towns: respectively. Thorn- 
burg, Nassau and Til ton. 
For that reason we have been 
reduced from thirty-five to 
nine in number. The meet" 
ings that have been held in 
our schoolhouse ae religious 
meetings, school meetings, 
literaries and ten cent shows. 
The school-yard was not 
mowed last summer. Last 
year we planted some peach 
. seeds and some plants but 
GUY STRASSEK, NO 2, PRAIRIE TOWN ^ve have iiot had irood luck 
SHIP. with them The men and 




58 

women of prominenGe who once attended our school are: one lawyer, 
Harve Vanlaw; three telegraph operators— Edwin Owen. Harry Jen- 
nings, and Frank Perry: four or live business men, tfiie Wainwright 
brothers, Rudolph Draegert and others: two shoemakers, Charles and 
Fred Winders; one section foreman, George Vanlaw; ten school 
teachers, Anna Wolf, Blanche Conoway, Maud Mikesell, Hanna Van- 
law, Emma Draegert, Frank llugg, Mabel Atwood, S. A. Molyneux 
and others; many successful farmers and some not so successful: abun- 
dance of good house wives 

The schoolhouse is about 38 years old but does not look bad for 
one standing that length of time. It has white paint on the out- 
side. The roof leaks a little and the pastering is falling off. The 
desks are broken an weathered very much by jackknives. There are 
enough double seats for twenty-four pupils. The paint on the black 
board is almost a thing of the past. The window curtains are good 
stayers. They never move by spring. The roads naarby need 
grading. 

We have four wall maps and one globe. Three of the maps 
were new this year. The walls are well decorated with many small 
pictures: one in frame of Mr. McKinley, his wife and mother, which 
belongs to a former teacher Our chart is nearly gone and our dic- 
tionary is in the same condition. We have twenty-three library 
books; some are for little children and some are lor older children. 
The water bucket, dipper, pen, coal pail, shovel, hatchet and poker 
are in good condiLiLii The teacher's chair is classed with the chart 
and dictionary and is liable to land the teacher in the middle of the 
floor most any day. Of course this is a country school— containing 
but one room, nine feet high, twenty feet wide and thirty feet long. 

Our school yard consists of one acre on which we have thirty- 
seven trees in fair condition considering the battle they fought with 
the ice some few weeks ago; also a good pump and coal house, and a 
garden of liveforever. The yard has no fence on two sides. 

-Tennie, Albert and Charley Molyneux: Pearl, Jennie and Harry 
Hill; Vera Kline; Lucy Raymond and Alton Draegert; Eli, Cecil and 
Guy Strasser are t^ie pupils who come this term Several of the 
pupils needed new books so the ttrst thing the teacher did was to ex- 
amine the latest copyright of every book in the school, and learning 
that some of them were many years older than himself, explained 
the matter to the board and now we are up to date again and the 
books are twice as interesting. 

In the near future we should have a new stove; placed in the 
corner of the room with a jacket around it. Then we would have 



59 

room for single seats which we lonjj for more tlian anything else. As 
for the apparatus the president of our school board told our teacher 
that l^ie would try to get anything that the school needs. Ttie rest of 
the tilings that we long for will probably not come until we have 
township schools. Then we can have papers containing current 
events. 

We can have curiosity tables, beautiful pictures, slate blackboards, 
a basement with furnace, carpenter tools and lunch tables. I think 
the time is not far off when one teacher will not be required to teach 
all the grades taught in one school and then we will have a chance to 
learn twice as much as we do now. 

* * * -v- * 




SYLVIA BLAYLOCK. 



ABOTTT iifty years ago a little 
blacksmith shop stood across 
tlie road from v, here tlie Samuel 
Flory residence now stands in 
the western part of the town- 
sliip. I can see in my imagina- 
tion a group of stiu'dy farmers 
standing about the dingy little 
building They ai'e talking ex 
citedly Important news has 
come. Two of their inmiber 
have jnst returned from the 
little lownof Iowa City where 
they had taken a herd of cattle 
to sell They have brought 
back A-ilh them the news of the 
repeal of the Missouri Com 
promise and the passage by Con- 
gress, of the Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill. Some one has just pro- 
posed that they get up a crowd 
of "squatters" to go across the 
country to help "Bleeding Kan- 
sas" and to save it from the 



the southern slaveholders. They have other matters also to talk about 
I can see the brawny blacksmith finish the rude plow share he 
is making. It is his turn to talk now. All eyes are toward him . lie 
has been their leader in many discussion He now makes the sugges- 
tion that they have very important busine.ss nearer home. He has 
been counting up during his leisure moments and he now tells them 
that there are enough people living in the neighborhood and they 



60 

must soon have a meeting to organize a townsiiip and they must sure- 
ly have a schoolhouse built and have a school for the toys and girls 
of the neighborhood, by the next winter. The people just a little 
ways west of them have their township already organized and he tells 
the farmers that they must not drop behind. 

So amid such stirring times as the border war in "Bleeding 
Kansas ' and the passage of "Personal Liberty Bills" in many of the 
northern states, the township was organized. I do not wonder that 
it was called Liberty and that its first .sctool should go by the same 
name. 

I think tlie first schoolliouse in the township was built in 1854. 
It was a small frame building with desks made of broad, rough boards. 
The seats were made of rough slabs and ihe blackboard was a couple 
of painted planks. It stood in the southwest part of. the section, a 
little east of where the Dunkard church now stands, and was used for 
a number of years by them as a meeting house. 

As the country was settled more t'-ickly another school was or- 
ganized and placed about two miles east directly in the center of the 
township. It was given the title No 1, or Hawkeye, although Liber- 
ty was organized tirst. 

I think the tirst term of schoDl at Libertv was taught in the 
winter of 1854-55 by David Brower. Among the other early teachers 
in this school were: F. B Flory, Mr. Frego, Mr. Baker and Mr. 
Thomas Seerley, father of II II. Seerley, who is now president of our 
State Normal School. 

In later years some of the teachers have been: Miss OUie Mer- 
man, .Tames Hilderbrand, Homer Seerley, Yr. Bailey, Cap E. Miller, 
our present county superintendent, and N'ilo C. Miller Under the 
leadership of these teachers our school has made a irreat advancement 
from the rude school which it was in 1854. 

Among tlie pupils who attended the early terms of sch ol at 
Liberty the names Westfall, Stoner, Wolf, Rhodes, Flory, w ine and 
Brower are familiar Among the girls and boys who have made their 
mark in life may be mentioned: Mark Brower, who writes an M. D. 
—he is' now practicing medicine near Salem, Oregon; D. N. Coffman, 
formerly county trer.surer, now a successful merchant in our home 
town: David Wolf who has become quite a mechanic and is manufac- 
turing gasoline engines: David Rhodes, school teacher and druggist: 
George Flory, Druggist: Ollie Morman and Hope Morman are school 
teachers; Charles Morman, chief salesman for mining tool company: 



61 



William Huxford, formerly school teacher, now a veterinary doctor: 
Alosco Moore, principal of sclif^ols in Norway, Iowa. 

About the year 1870, the western part of the district having be- 
come more thickly settled, it was decided to move the school build- 
ing nearer the center of the district. George Huxford undertook 
the job of moving it. Placing it upon two bob-sleds he started. Af- 
ter getting it within about one quarter of a mile of its destination, 
the snow went off the ground. It looked as though our school would 
have to stand in the center of a tield but after several weeks they se- 
cured some trucks and tinished the moving. The building was placed 
on the lot about twenty feet north of where the present schoolhouse 
stands. 




NUMBER TW^O, LIBERTY TOWNSHIP. 



In 1881 the old building had become too small to accommodate 
the pupils, of whom there were sometimes as many as seventy-tive en- 
rolled, so a new schoolhouse was built and the old one was torn down. 
Today we are still using the house built in 1881 It is 23 by 28 feet 
and faces the south. It is in the southwestern part of the school- 
ground. It is in fair condition and in the days in which it was built 
was considered a tine schoolhouse As one person says, "That was 
last century; now we've grown wiser." Measured by the schoolbuiid- 
ings of the present, we cannot boast of our Liberty schoolhouse. It 
is neatly painted inside and out. It is fairly well equipped. We 
have good slate blackboards, a good chart and a good library of about 
tifty volumes. The room is neatly decorated with festoonings, flags 



62 

and Perry pictures which were put up by our present and former 
teachers. The seats are poor, having done duty for at least two gen- 
erations The room is well lighted and has good window blinds. It 
is well ventilated There are several cracks in the floor where you 
can drop a knife through (of course I mean a small knife). Then, 
near the door there are three or four passage ways for mice so they 
can get out quickly if they should happen to get in. Bad boys like to 
chase mice, you know The schoolground is well sodded, has nice 
maple shade trees, neat outbuildings, but unpainted, a small school 
garden and a good stable in one corner of the ground for the use of 
persons who drive to school. 

The school yard slopes slightly to the east and is in a pleasant 
location. The fence is neither neat nor substantial; in fact, there is 
no fence on the side next to the road. The yard contains three-fourths 
of an acre but we do not think it is near large enough. 

In our school at present we have an enrollment of 31, although 
we have had an enrollment of 36 during the term The attendance is 
regular and punctuality is fair. The grades are from the first to the 
eighth The school has 25 recitations daily. We have debates and 
declamations about once in three weeks. 

I can see nothing but a better future for Liberty school. Dur- 
ing the last few years the people in our district have roused up won- 
derfully along educational lines and our district has liad the honor 
of paying the highest salary, and of having the largest number of 
months of school in the year of any school in this part of the county. 
Our schoolground would be greatly improved by a neat fence, a good 
walk from the road to the house and from the house to the various 
outbuildings. It would be a good plan if at least 20 more square rods 
were added to the schoolground. Some plants, shade trees, flowering 
vines and shrubs planted about our schoolhouse would help to take 
that barn-like look. Our schoolground would also be greatly improved 
by having a good well on it. It has none at present. I would like 
to see a row of shade trees between the house and road. 

In regard to improving our schoolhouse in the future, it might 
be replaced by a new one But at a small outlay it could be made to 
do duty for twenty years more and at the same time be made a more 
pleasant place. A hall or lobby and some furniture are needed. In a 
great many rural schools basement heating is in use, thus saving time, 
patience, fuel and, last but not least, money for the taxpayer. They 
also have workshops and gardens, where the boys and girls learn to ob- 
serve things accurately and to yyprk with tbeir hands. I sge no re^-. 



63 



sen wl)y Liberty slould not have the;^ 
Liberty, first organized, lar^^est sclioo 
township, will liave them. 

"Our public scliools, our country's pride. 

Her liope. her wealtli. her light: 
We will support, defend, improve 

This gift of God's great might " 



e tliings in the near f^nurt. 
and linest people in all the 



* * * -x- * 



MY SCHOOL: 
What It Was, What It Is And What It Should Be. 



ALMA 

past. 



"Still sits the schoolhoiise by the road, 

A ragged beggar sunning: 
Around it still the sumachs grow, 

And blackerry vines are running. 
Within the master's desk is seen, 

Deep-scarred by raps official: 
The warping floor, the battered seats, 

The jackknife's carved initial " 

A community is generally 
known by the school it has kept 
in the past, by the school it 
keeps at present and by the 
school it intends to keep in 
the future. Fifty years ago in 
the district which is now 
known as Grant district, school 
was taught in a colonial struct 
ure situated between the resi- 
dences of Mr. G. C. McCombs 
ond Mr. R. A Miles. In my 
imagination 1 can see that 
school fifty years ago and can 
also see the school of fifty 
years in the future Let 
us hope there may be a far 
greater progress made in the 

M'coMiJs. NTTMKER 4 Bjis'^GLisn improvement of the schools in 
RivEK TowNsi.'ip. the future than has been in the 

For as Spencer says, t' If education be a daily preparation for 




64 

life, then should every child have a daily experience of tliis fact" 
Civilization calls for education. With this fact in mind an independ- 
ent district was organized in the year 185«. Mr. button, Mr. Peck 
and Mr. Harris were chosen as first directors. Mr. Nisewander and 
Mr Crosby built the first schoolhouse in this independent district 
and named it Grant in honor of t e famous General Grant. Bartley 
Scott was chosen as first teacher. (Our present schoolhouse was 
built in the year 1901. It is located on one of Iowa's fair hills, which 
slopes off toward the sunset. About one-hundred square rods or a 
little over one-half acre of Iowa's soil is laid out for playground. 
This one-half acre contains fourteen trees: namely, maple, elm and 
crab apple. The plant life consists of cinders and weed stubbs, a 
little grass mixed in occasionally. A very substantial fence sur- 
rounds it but according to my notion it is not very tasty. The 
school was at one time blest with a well but it got to leaking and the 
bottom was removed and a new floor was put in its place. 

The patrons of the district try to show quite a bit of economy. 
At one of their annual meetings there was one gentleman arose and 
asked to liave the well sold because some fellow might want it to 
work up into post-holes 

The schoolhouse stands near the northeast corner of the square, 
.about two feet from the road. It is very beautifully located. The 
door faces sunrise and the house has lour windows on the north and 
four on the south. The schoolhouse is 20 by 20 feet and has a hall at 
the entry which is 20 by feet. The hou^■e is two years old and is in 
fair condition. The decorations on the inside are composed of a few 
pictures and two calendars The outside painting is mainly in spots, 
being completely covered when it was new but wearing away with 
time. The stove stands near the rear of the house, between the two 
doors. The pipe, which is now leaning at an angle of nniety-two de- 
grees, bas been pushed in line a number of times since school began. 
The stove has a bright crimson color. We have no globes or charts. 
We have one map of Iowa but it has fringed edges and has seen its 
best days. The blackboard is located at the front and is composed of 
four slates, each three by five feet, which are in good condition. The 
seats and desks are the common old-fashioned double kind. They 
are not extra good and aie not beautiful by any means. They have 
done duty for many generations of pupils. Our window curtains are 
all in fair condition except one which is stationary. 

We have a fair library of twenty volumes containing such books 
as: "'Girls Who Became Famous," 'Great American Industries,'' 



65 

and "Four Great Americans." The books are all in good condition. 
We have twenty scholars enrolled and have seven who have been 
neither absent nor tardy during the term Our present teacher is 
Ellis Kirkpatrick wlio just finished the 29th of February a very suc- 
cessful term of scliool. 

Now look with me into the future of not only my school but of 
all country schools. Will the time ever come when the country 
schools shall be blessed with adjustable and single seats and also be 
properly ventilated? When will Iowa decorate her public schools as 
she does her capital and county seats? When will the room be added 
which may be used for the purpose of public entertainments? When 
will they be supplied with a baseirent containing a furnace, a work- 
shop and lunch tables? When will proud Iowa be willing to give at 
least one acre to each school for play-ground? Will the time ever 
come when the schools will be supplied with globes, maps and charts 
as they should be? Will tlie time ever come when the Keokuk coun- 
ty schools shall be consolidated and all scholars be given a fair and 
equal chance at a high school education? Will the time ever come 
when the patrons will take the Interest that they schould take in our 
public school system? Why not have the public scliool stand out as an 
example of art and beauty? Will the time ever come when the Stars 
and Stripes shall float over every public school in America? When 
Will the schools become as comfortable and attractive as the home? 
When it becomes all this it will be none too much for the cause of 
education. Pupils would liave an Inspiration not only to be in school 
but to try to obtain an education and be somebody. If the schools 
are to be the success that we hope for, they should have the atten- 
tion, interest and co-operation of all citizens. 

"Our public schools, our country's pride. 
Her hope, her wealth, lier light: 

We will support, defend, improve 
This gift of God's great might." 



66 

FIRST the past— My school 
house was built in the year 1868 
on the John Trotter farm. 
From here it was moved to 
where it now stands which is in 
the southeastern part of Van 
Buren township But trouble 
arose as to its position and it 
was moved back. Still the pa- 
trons were not satisfied and it 
was moved to its present loca 
lion. / 

It used to be called "The 
Rowley Scliool" and "Lick 
Skillet" but a few years aj^o the 
name Fairview was given to it 
which is a very appropriate 
name — for from here you can 
get a fair view of the country 
for a great distance. 
NORA A. EVEBMANN. PresBUt -The Eairvlew school 

stands in the northwest part of a large and beautiful yard contain- 
ing one hundred and sixty square rods. There is a grader shed in 
the northeast corner. Although this takes otf part of the yard, there 
is still a large playground left. 

Twelve trees adorn and add to the beauty of the yard. One a 
large cotton wood, stands in the southeastern part of the playground, 
while the others which are box elders and maples are arranged along 
the west side 




The yard is enclosed by an iron rod fence which gives the place 
a neat appearance. 

The schoohouse is a frame structure twenty-seven feet long 
and twenty-three feet wide. It faces the south. There is a belfry on 
the south end of the roof There is one outside door that leads in- 
to the hall and two 'doors that open from tlie hall into the room. 
There are six windows, three on each side, so that there is plenty of 
light and ways of ventilation The outside is painted a dark green. 
On the inside tlie ceiling, wainscoting and other woodwork are 
painted a light blue. 

The walls are decorated with paper chains which are draped 
across the windows and looped from the four corners to the middle of 
the ceiling. 



We have several pictures on the wall including the portraits 
of sucli famous men as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and 
Benjamin Franklin who. looking down from their lofty height, inspire 
us with good resolutions which may enable us to become great also. 

Our stove is in the center of the room so that the room ought 
to be always well heated 

We have an exellent globe and as good a set of maps as you will 
see anywhere. We have a chart that is well adapted to the demands 
of the primary class. 




NUMBER 7, VAN BURBN TOW NSH '.P 

Our blackboard extends tbe entire length of the nortli side of 
the room and if it isn't vei-y large it is plenty large enough for the 
number who go to use it . 

We have a platform in our schoolroom wliich enables the 
teacher to get a better view of the school. On this platform are reci- 
tation benches but they are not used anymore. The seats face the 
north and they are getting old and intirm with age but we expect to 
have some new ones before long. The desks, 1 am sorry to say, are 
badly marred and scratched, althougli the present pupils have done 
a part of it the most was dons by our fellow students who have come 
and gone before us. The teacher lists a real nice desk and comfortable 
chair. 



68 

We have a bench to put the water bucket on and a place for 
the wash pan, soap box and dinner buckets 

There are no curtains for the windows but shutters take the 
place of them. Altliouyrh tliey are not as good as curtains would be, 
they will do for the present. 

Our library tliough small is steadily increasing. It contains 
some very good books some of which are Louisa May Alcott's works 
on "My Girls" and "My Roys'" and other* written by Jane Andrews, 
W. H Longfellow and Xathaniel Hawthorne 

There are nineteen pupils enrolled but they do not come very 
regularly Most of these are the small ones who live quite a distance 
from the schoolhouse. 

There are only two wlio have "Certificates of Award." One is a 
boy ten years old— the other, a girl. There have been quite a num- 
ber of visitors who show that they take an interest in the work that 
is being done. 

Our present teache -^ is Miss Dora E. House 

Future— We would like to have a new schoolhouse. If we 
could have it furnished with the modern improvements. ^A e would 
have an auditorium lighted with gas lights to hold our entertain- 
ments in— a room for the library, a study room with single seats, an 
upright piano would be very welcome also— but above all we want a 
well with a pump in it so we can have fresh water whenever we want 
it. 

I hope that our school may always be blessed with good teach- 
ers and stand at the head of the list entitled—' ^A Model School.'" 



6fl 




TONY 



GREINEK, NUMBER 2, CLEAR 
CltBEK TOWNSHIP. 



WELL, the old Stone 
sclioollioiise has been stand- 
iuo; Miere as lon^^ as I can 
i-einember The school- 
fj^rouiid was j,'-iven b}' Mr. 
r.iul J'eirt'er and Mr. Stone. 
T\w rocks were quarried by 
the Wehr Brothers and the 
lumber was bought in Wash- 
iiiutcMi. The schoolhouse 
was built by tlie Wehr 
Ihothers in 1868 Tlie first 
roofing was put en by Mr. 
Stricklen of Talleyrand. 

There is no fence around 
the schoolground which con- 
tLins52i .square rods. There 
is plenry of shade. There 
are 28 trees- blackoak, box 
elder, the fragrant crabapple 
and elm. Underneath these 
trees the grass grows long 
and green in the summer 
time making a good place to 
play. Our yard is bounded on the north and west by a forest, on the 
east and south by the road. There is no well. There was one in by- 
gone days, but no more. 

The schoolhouse is 21 by 24 feet and faces the south east. From 
our door we can see the big Catholic church and some pretty homes 
and the fine mossy stone quarry with the pretty forest beyond. The 
schoolhouse is not painted outside but is of the natural stone color. 
Six windows let in the light and at times too much sunlight— for 
there are neither blinds nor shutters. The building is whitewashed 
inside and the woodwork is painted a gray color but needs painting 
again. The furniture coD.sists of seven desks beside the teacher's, two 
long benches and the teacher's chair, a new stove, four square yards 
of blackboard, three maps and a box for our library books of which 
we have nine. They are mostly historical and some of them were 
written by Edward Eggleson. We have four penmanship instructing 
charts. Our seats are not good ones. Some of them bear the marks 
of the boys' jack knives who thought they were artists I suppose. 

The schoolhouse has been repaired several times. Once a new 
roof was put on by Frank Ackerman, who is now in Germany. And 



70 

about two years ago a new floor was put in by Peter Engeldinger and 
George Greiner. 

I would like to have a very nice shoolhouse that is painted 
nicely inside and outside. 1 would have fours windows on one side 
and on the other side four little windows at the top. Then there 
would be no cross lights. I would have the schoolroom very nicely 
decorated in the inside and a nice big library and big blackboards low 
down so the little children could reach to write their lessons. I 
would have nice varnished single seats nailed fast to the floor so they 
could not be moved And it would be healthy to have the school- 
room well ventilated: a stove jacket around the stove sojwe couldjwarm 
every part of the room and not burn our faces and freeze our backs at 
the same time. If we could have more maps, more library books and 
a big globe of the world, then it would be easier for the children to 
learn something. It would be nice to have a good coalhouse close to 
the schoolhouse so it would be handy to get coal in the winter time 
when it is cold . I would have a good fence around the schooiground 
made of the galvinized rods and a good deep well with a good pump 
in it and a tight platform so nothing could get into it. 

In fact, I would like to have a schoolhouse with everything out- 
side and inside as nice as possible for you know we have to spend so 
much of our time at scliool when we are young. 



71 




GLENN IIENINGBR. 



CENTER district No. 3 
derives its name from its lo- 
cation, as it occupies the 
central part of Steady Run 
township. 

A site, thirteen rods S(i ware, 
was donated by Philip Ilen- 
inger in 1851, for school and 
religious purposes It was 
located in a higli, dry, and 
healthy place. The first 
schoolhouse was a small log 
structure, lacing the south, 
having but one door, and one 
long window in tlie west. The 
furniture and apparatus con- 
sisted of two long desks used 
for writing and storing of 
books and slab benches for 
seats. Imagine yourself sit- 
ting all day on one of these 
seats with no way to ease 
your position. 

The teachers in those days wielded the rod without mercy and 
we are told had other modes of punishment such as wearing the 
dunce caps, holding rag dolls and split sticks on the nose. 

Upon our schoolground are twenty very beautiful maple trees 
whose dense foliage during the warm sunny days, forms a grand arena, 
in which the scholars of the past have played and those of the future 
will play the merry games which make their hearts light and gay 

thus preparing them for their school tasks. 

There is also a little elm planted in honor of George Washing- 
ton. Though it is small in size now, may the happy children that 
play around it and may we as pupils now take it for an example, and 
try to rise to such a height that we may not be ashamed in the future 
to stand beneath its foliage. 

Our school yard is enclosed with a substantial fence, construct- 
ed of heavy cedar posts, connected with cabled wire, sufficiently 
strong that we boys need not be afraid to swing our whole weight up- 
pn it. 

Though our school y^rd is beavitif ul and a spot we all hold dear, 
we must not forget the schoojhouse in whjcn we pursue the work 
putliijed by our teacher, who is ^i'ftr ]^ind, ^tt^r^tJYP) ^^^ willing to 



72 

help us in time of need. At times we boys, and often the girls, too, 
forj,^et and cause disturbances, yet when our teacher speaks to us in 
her kind and alTectionate way, 1 tell you it makes us feel ashamed. 
But I guess all this must be included in tlie makeup of a successful 

school. 

The present schoolhouse, which was built in 18'W is a plain 
frame building', its dimensions beiiiy twenty-tive by thirty feet, paint- 
ed white on the outside, plastered and ceiled on the inside, There is 
one front door which opens into a hall way from which there are two 




NUMBER 3, STEADY RUN TOWNSHIP. 

doors leading into the main room. This room is furnished with light 
and ventilation by thrse windows on eitlier side. 

A large coal burner, situated near the center of the room, gives 
out a bsautiful store of heat during the cold days of winter, driving 
away Jack Frost, soothing the pain in the lingers and toes of the 
smaller children. 

It is well supplied with double seats, a very beautiful teacher's 

desk and chairs. 

A large slate blackboard 3.i by 19 ft. occupies the front of the 
room and pictures decorate the walls. As to maps, globes and charts 



73 

we have none. A small library has been started during- the past two 
years, in which may be found; Webster's Dictionary, Black Beauty, 
Uncle Tom's Cabin, Letters to the Farm Boy, A Young Man's Prob- 
lem, Franklin's Autobiography, Four True Stories of Life and Adven 
ture, Short Stories from English History. And many others. 

Our schoolhouse has also been used for religious meetings, sing- 
ing schools, grange meetings and literary work 

During th<^ past term there were twenty-nine pupils attended 
our school and the attendance and punctuality was good, there being 
as high as 13 pupils neither absent nor tardy. We also had thirty 
visitors, six calls being made by the directors. 

Among those who have attended our school and are now climb- 
ing the ladder of success are the Ogden Bros., mercantile dealers of 
Martinsburg; Will Fuller, a noted electrician; James Smith, Supt. of 
the "diamond mines in South Africa; Roland Martin, a minister; 
Emma Love, Anna and Lucy Jones, teaciiers: Charley Heninger, an 
Attorney at law; Salor Heninger, former teacher in Elliot's Business 
College and many others bave possibly been eciually successful. 

As to the future we expect to accomplish more than we have in 
the past. Miss Harlan, our present teacher, has partially graded the 
school, and, if re-elected for the ensuing term, hopes to make a de- 
cided improvement in our school work. We expect to have tiower 
gardens, secure maps, globes, and charts and adopt the button system 
into our school and hope to have parents' day at least once during the 
term. 

We trust that onr school may continue to develop and that it 
may always remain free ana independent Our earnest desire is, that 
in the future happy ceildren may continue to shout on the old school- 
ground as in days of yore, though for us these days will be gone for 
ever. 

Our motto: "Energy and pluck win." 



74 




EVA ALI.SUP, NUMBER 
TOWNSHir. 



THERE is an old, old 
song our parents say they 
used to sing in their school 
days, which I think could be 
applied with truth to our 
school ii district No. 5. "If 
at first .\ou don't succeed, try 
try again." Our sclioolhouse 
was so far to one side of the 
district that several of the 
pupils had quite a distance to 
go. Perhaps some of you 
have heard of the Honey 
Grove school. This is the 
name of the school of which 
I am spealcing. It w:is nam- 
ed from the grove and wood 
sui-iouiidiiig It in which tliere 
wt'ie many bees to make hon- 
ey. Now I have told you the 
wAiiRKN "'"'^'^ of the school of wliich 
1 was a pupil. And as 1 
have told you a number of 
the scholars had (luite a distance to go and there we;e ([uite a number 
of children who were just becoming the age to go to school but could 
not start on account of living so far away. Well, the question of 
moving the sclioolhouse to the center of the district came up two or 
three years ago, but this the majority of the people objected to for it 
would throw some of them still fartlier from school. After three 
years of such talk or perhaps at the beginning of the third year they 
became more in earnest than ever before for some of these .small 
children were getting so old that they must start soon. Last spring 
soon after the election tliey called a special meeting of the people 
of the district which was well attended because the ques- 
tion of the education of only a part of the little folks or more mon- 
ey out of the peoples' pockets for taxes to make better schools was to 
hi decided. This was voted on and the votes were seemingly divided 
half and half but no one knew. As it happened there was one man 
who did not attend the meeting because he had no children to send, 
but finally he was sent for and voted for the schoolhouse and when 
the time came for the voting to stop the votes were counted and we, 
listen will you please, had just gained our schoolhouse by this one 
vote. Think of this will youV Some of them were too much afraid of 



75 

1 a, little tax money, a saving of money for fnem but loss of edttea^ion 

for some child or children. i 

i,,,^ But now a place to put our new schoolhouse came next. A$ we 

.had already had much trouble in gaining the building that somej of 

tlie men gave one-lialf acre of ground which was neitlier a very liirge 

. place nor a very nice one as, one person said, "Not tit to be farmed.'* 

, But it is a very, very bad thing that has not a little good in it and I 

•hopfe to prove this to you 

•- ..-Please let me go back to those people who did not want 

-*t*ie -schobl house. When they saw what was going on they called 
another meeting to vote for money to tix up their schoolhouse; in 
which our parents had gone to school and which had not been; re; 
paired much since that time. This was carried unanimously and their 
schoolhouse is at the present as good as new. Also a new well was 
dug. We and our parents before us had carried water all our school 
days. Now don't you think this was a good thing all aroundV 

Mi-. Miller did not want our district divided but after they ,did 
divide it lie pianritd our ne-.v schoolhouse. The room is 20 by 28 fieet. 
The work was done by Mr. Milt Taylor of Delta And on Sepfe, 7, 
'1903, we began our first day of sciiool with several nevv' scliolars, a new 
teacher, ono who had never tauglit, and in a nice clean room in which 
children had never been taught. Having every thing new or some 
thing new in every line we began school and liad school until O.cf., |iO, 
1903. The last day the parents brought dinner and surprised., t;he 
teacher. Then before we went home they asked the teacher, to., h.a.ye 
a Christmas tree at Christmas time and she said she wo.ujd,. . ,So at.,t)ie 
tirst of the winter term we began getting our pieces and learning 
them. And when Christmas came we had our program ready and 
two of the boys got the tree and we had our Christmas tree . on ..W.^d- 
nesday night before Christmas. We all had a good t[me.;a;axi;.jtjjEi,d 
plenty of popcorn and candy. .;, ,...,. ;.o:f>!::<o ' 

In our schoolhou.se we have no maps, globe, window curtains, or 
anything like that and only six library books. We have a nice black- 
board and good desks and we think that the schoolboard has done 
so much for us that we will try to raise money and purchase some 
maps and curtains and try to make our scboolroom as bright and 
pretty as possible, r^_; '<^,.r j: .; 

Our schoolhou.se is built on a hill and we want to try to make it 
a beautiful hill. Perliaps some of those who were opposed to it will 
say, "Well that is a good place for a schoolhouse after all for if no cine 
else could make any thing of it they could." 

Now does not that go to show that the little poor spots in the 



'■() oh 



woi'Id can be made brig-hter and better and ought to be given to the 
boys atid girls to work onV Of course they need help, not much 
though. Encouragement and advice are about all they need 

"' ■ ''Little deeds of kindness, 

Little works of love, 
Make this world an Eden, 
Like the one above " 
,. ,^.,-.Now,I have told /ou all I know of the past and present of our 
school and what we hope for in the future. Thanking you for your 
kind, attention I also invite you to come and see us in our school- 
hpuije on, the hill. The hill wliose soil was so poor that it would not 
raise corn,- wheat, oats or potataes, but which we intend to make 
bloom and blossom like a garden. Come and see us and tell us if we, 
have helped the looks of it any. 







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ONE mile north of the 
iiorthvvest limit of the 
lown. of Keota, Kookuk 
county, Iowa, stiinds ilic 
schocjiliouse, where 1 at- 
tend school. It faces the 
south and is pleasantly lo- 
cated. The ground in 
froMi slopes down to ,thc 
ijiuiksut Crooked Creek. 
Tile house is of the same 
Keener;) 1 size and shape as 
llie average Iowa school 
liouse. In size it is 20x24 
feet iiaving two front 
doors and a window 
between giving a pleasant 
view iii that direction. 
Our school house was built 
in the year 1872. It .was 
the last schoolhouse built 
in this township under 
r the old school tovwiship 

planiand was built before there was enough pupils in the district to 
constitute a school district but was built at the time in order to have 
the township build it. This was the year when the electors voted to 
change from the school township plan to that of the independent dis- 



I>LOVD FRY. 



trjcts. Captain Joseph Smith, who donated the acre of ground upon 
which tlie schoolhouse was built, was elected sub-director and served 
in that capacity until tlie change was made in the year 1874. At that 
time W. C. Smock, .John Klein and Geo. B. McCreary were elected 
directors. The name adopted was Independent District No. 6. 

The sclioolhouse is well built and has seven windows. The 
windows all have fairly good curtains. The blackboard is made of 
slate and it was through the efforts of W. C. Smock that tbe slate 
blackboard was procured from Mr. Stoffee wlio had it shipped from 
the east. 

Our library is one of the best owned by any rural school in the 
township and contains tliirty-seven volumes. Among them are books 
having the titles: "Around the World." "Family of the Sun," "Aunt 
>farth;>'s Corner Cupboard," "The Great World's Farm," "Christmas 
Carols and Cricket on the Hearth" and "Pilgrim's Progress." 

An effort has been made to get a beautiful grove of trees in the 
schoplyard. The trees, forty-tive in all, are nicely arranged around 
the school building and are all doing very well except the one 
which has been used. to support a telephone wire. They are soft 
miple catalpa. plum and some shrubs. The teacher and pupils have 
attempted to raise flowers and a vegetable garden. JJadishes, lettuce 
and onions were planted last spring. Some asparagus has been on the 
schoolground for three years 



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NUMBER 6, LAFAYETTE TOWNSHIP. 



The tiiot teacher wlio 
t;iu;4lil ill iny school was 
.Mr. .loliii Fletcher Gra- 
liani vviio is still one of tlie 
citi/ensof Keota and we 
all look up to him as one of 
the bright and shining 
liglits of the twentieth 
century. 

The town of Keota at 
that time had not yet pro- 
vided a schoolhouse and 
the size of our school 



was increased by the attendance of pupils from Keota. Some of them 
no doubt became prominent persons and of the piiP'''^ belonging to 
tlie district many have become worthy citizens '>'" our county. One 
of the teachers. Dr. Eckly, became a physicinn One of the pupils is 
at present a minister of tbe gospel: another '.v - • ( •■ n time a mission- 
ary in one of the schools in North Carolina. \,:\j-\) President of 



•78 

the United States was ever a pupil in our school we have no doubt 
the farmers and stockmen who have come from our school are filling 
their stations in life as usefully as the average farmers and stockmen 
in the state. 

The sclioolliouse being situated so near to Keota has never 
been used for an„v remarkable meetings. The most important meet- 
ing was held by the school to raise money to purchase library books. 
This was a box social and was arranged for and carried on successful- 
ly by Miss Clyde Gaunder, the teacher. 

There have been many school exhibitions and closing day pro- 
grams in tliis school. The number of picnics held on "closing day" 
of spring terms are not recorded but such days have been about the 
only time that our parents have taken time to visit the school. The 
chicken, buns, pies, cakes, to say nothing of tea, coffee, ice cream and 
lemonade consumed on these occasions is not a matter of history in 
the strictest sense of the word. 

A good board fence and a section of hedge surround the school- 
yard except on the front where the fence is out of repair. There is 
no well or pump. Tiie directors no doubt thought the children need- 
ed water. Tliey also feared there was danger of the pupils drowning 
each other in tiie well. Now if there would be a nice tank in the 
schoolhouse which could be supplied with ice water or lemonade in 
summer, we would not see the pupils tolling along the road with a 
pail of water which might be clean by the time it reached the school- 
house or it miglit be quite otherwise. 

If the patrons of the school were only interested I think by the 
time the town of Keota is extended this far north or farther our 
schoolhouse would be a very suitable place to hold the meetings of 
the strategy board Instead of having its members seated on dry goods 
boxes on the edge of the sidewalk. Or if it were considered not too 
good an idea we can imagine in time there will be a centralization of 
the rural schools such as the educators are planning now. 

We find that tlie pupils in the rural school to he will be taught 
some of the things useful and necessary for them to know and which 
are not contained in '"Ileadin,' 'vRitin,' and '"'Rithmetic." For in- 
stance there are such studies as the following. The study of the 
habits of weeds and how to extermmate them. For everyone knows 
that before many years there will be a demand for just such know- 
ledge as that. 

For another, the study of good, crops, how to grow them and 



79 - 

haw, tQr^ake them profitable will be a very necessary thing to know 
TJtjen tjiere are many other things that will be needed both for girls 
aad boys in training them for the best use and best way of making 
the best of life. So that 1 believe that what is called "manual tra in- 
ing" will be a large part of the work done in the rural scliools of the 
future. And, too, it will be found that the best is none too good to 
liave for the school and we will find sufficient apparatus in our school- 
rooms to explain everything and make the work iruch easier for the 
teacher and pupils as well as more beneficial. Our teacher will be 
trained to teach the best things, the most useful and most beautiful 
things and to teach in tlie best and easiest way. And the parents 
will visit the school and be more anxious and interested to visit and 
see for themselves what their children are doing in the schoolroom 
The school board will realize that the education of the young is what 
constitutes the best welfare and makes the best citizens of the Unit- 
ed States 

Jflail the day when our schoolhouses are as comfortable and as 
beautiful and attractive as the best and most modern homes and with 
their surroundings may each one of them constitute an inspiration to 
all. passers by and a source of pride to everyone in the community. 
And I, want to make a plea tonight that the bo^'s and girls of Amer 
ica be taugnt to know that the America of the future will be what 
the boys and girls in our school today make it. 

;- ffjet our schools arouse a righteous ambition in the children to 
be just such children as America will be proud of now and can be re- 
Ued^upon in the future— this which is the most vital part in the train- 
ing of American children, the possession of character in its truest and 
best.sense. This is my plea. 



80 



THE Center Hall schQ©l 
house, situated in ,tUe 
state of Iowa, Keojiyk 
coi 1 nt y, Jack son to\^nsni"p, 
district No. 4, was "built 
iti the year 18<)T.' ^ ''- 

One hundred -and^WiWfc^y 
square rods of land w^e 
?iven to the disttiot -by 
Peter Shook. The timber 
that it took to build the 
schoolhouse was given to 
the district by Wm. E€Ki- 
gers. a good old Me thod ist 
minister of that daj';" The 
sc'TOoihouse was bd11t|' by 
John Harmon, wH«'«vf^| at 
rhattirae the onlyei||b*n- 
t e r a 1 o u n d here. ^^^ r. 
Harmon hewed th«t*^m- 
ber and prepared w|for 
the building 

Center Hall is not a 
large building- only 24x26: 
but when it was first 
built, there were as many 
as sixty scholars attend- 

EFFIE SHY. jjjg i^ ^a^g ^}^g Qj^ly 

school for miles around at that time and of course not only the child- 
ren of our own district came but those of other districts and neighbw- 
hoods. ,h^::y/ .q/lT 

In the days gone by they liad a literary sQciety and people for 
great distances would come to Center Hall to hear the programs;.-::! 
have heard my fatlier and mother talk about attending literary -at 
Center Hall wlien they were young. ;■:■:,. 

Many boys and girls who have studied under its roof have be - 
come famous. I need not mention but a few of the occupations that 
tlie boys and girls of that day are now leading. Some of them are 
now in the ministry, many of them are successful teachers, one or 
two of them are in Alaska digging gold, one of late years served 
Uncle Sam in U. S Navy and many of the boys are rich and prosper- 
ous farmers. 

Our present schoolhouse has stood the storms for thirty-seven 
years. It is the same one Mr. Harmon builtrlong ago. It has beefi 




81 



remodeled only one time that I know of, and I am sure you will not 
be surprised when 1 tell you that it is now in a very pooi- condition 
but nevertheless it is located in a beautiful and healthy locality hav- 
ing a good clean playground with sixteen large trees on it thirteen of 
which are mr. pies and the other three are. willows. These furnisli 
plenty of shade in the summer and serve as a good wind break in the 
winter. The playground is not fenced in front but the other three 
sides are fenced. The fence belongs to the people who own the land 
surrounding the school. 

There is no well on the school ground at the present. It was 
covered up two or three years ago because it did not have good water 
in it and the curb was not very good. I think it was a good thing 

that I hey covered it up for 
some one mi.nht have fallen 
inio it. 

Our .■school house isp;iiiiii'd 
o.'i the outside with wliitc 
pnict having been |):iiiiieil \\<n 
long age wlion it \v;is reni'idel- 
ed It is t;aiiit('(l on tlie in- 
side with brown paint. The 
walls used to bt» wliile but 
you would doubt it. if you 
could see them now, for they 
are smoked till they are near- 
NUJvrBBK 4, JACKSON TOWNSHIP Iv black. 

We have a few decorations on the walls now but they do not 
look very well on such dirty walls 

The window panes are generally broken out. Last winter one 
whole sash of glass was broken out at one time and not replaced, so 
the teacher would change the sasli from north to south as the wind 
changed. This kept us from freezing and kept him busy building 
tires. 

We have a good blackboard, good desks and seats and a fairly 
good stove. 

There are six windows in the schoolhouse. but only one curtain. 
We recently had good curtains, but they were destroyed by the chil 
dren. 

We have no globe, charts, maps or dictionary. We have only 
four library books, and they were bought by one of the teachers who 
had the pupils sell coupons with which to get money to buy them. 




82 

District No. 4 is an independent one and tlie board meets on 
the third Monday in \'arch and September each year. It never 
meets any other time that I know of. The members of the school 
board or pa- ents never visit the school unless it is by chance when 
they come to school after their cliildren when the weatfier is bad. 
Only a few ever come to get their children, so we have very few visi. 
tors, and there has never been but one county superintendent who 
visited o'Jr school that I know of and that was the present one. 

There are only six scholars coming to school now. Most of them 
are regular in attendance and are always on time. Some live so far 
away that thev can not always come when the weather is bad. 

We have a good teacher now and I hope she thinks as well of 
us as we do of her. We hope in the future to have as good a teacher 
as we have now and that we will have a new school house and other 
things that are useful in a school, such as a library, globe, charts and 
a dictionary I am sure we would rather go to school then than stay 
at home 

I imagine the pupils that are now going to school will be more 
prominent in the future than some have been in the past. Some of 
them will become great if they study hard. Some of them might be 
bookkeepers, and others might be successful school teachers, and 
some might be county superintendents and some might even be the 
president of the United States. 

And I hope in the future more scholars will come to Center 
Hall to school and that everything will go to make the future of our 
school better than the past. 



83 




KITTY MCBRIDB, NUMBER 
NEY TOWNSHIP. 



SIGOUR- 



DISTRICT number two 
orifj-inally included all of 
Sijrourne}' towhship, except 
the town district. It was 
afterwards divided into two 
separate districts. District 
number two was then named 
Xewl<irk for its be?nefactor, 
Daniel Newkirk. an old and 
respected Citizen of Sigour- 
ney township, who gave the 
ground on which the old 
school house was built. 

The first school house was 
a log cabin built by the men 
of the district in 1854. It 
was heated by a wooden 
stove. The seats were home 
made and both seats and 
desks were straight. They 
were movable and were 
placed on all sides of the 
room. The first teacher was John Lewis from Boone county, Indi- 
ana. He taught three weeks and gave it up A man from Oskaloosa 
finished the term The boys and girls who went to school at that 
time have grown to manhood and womanhood, and they are scattered 
everywhere— some living on the Pacific coast, some near the Gulf of 
Mexico, while some are still living in this district and vicinity. One 
of the boys, Whitney Jacobs, married Mr. Newkirk's daughter and af- 
terwards became sheriff of Keokuk county and was postmaster at 
Delta for several years. One of his daughters became one of the 
many successful teachers of Keokuk county and is now the wife of our 
county attorney . 

During a revival meeting held in the old schoolhouse a man got 
so happy that he knocked the stove over when it was full of fire. He 
soon forgot his happiness in endeavoring to put out the fire. 

In 1868 a new schoolhouse was built by Acley Beaman and 
plastered by William Clubb. It is rectangular in shape and is 20ft 
wide and L>4ft long. It faces the ea?t . It has a door in the east and 
three windows on each side. It was painted several years ago on the 
outside but it is about all off now. On the inside the wood work is 
painted a dark blue and the walls are plastered and whitewashed. 
At first the seats from the old house were used but now it is seated 



84 

with twenty-four modern seats, four of which are small and twenty 
large 

The inner decorations cotisist of pictures, strung corn and ever- 
green twigs. The corn is several colors and strung on cords. The 
st'-inging was done by the 2nd and 3rd grades. 

The pictures are a large framed portrait of Washington and 
many smaller ones on mattwg. Our apparatus consists of seven maps, 
a globe a chart and a blackboard, which was made by painting a 
boird black, and a library which was started in 1900 and now consists 
of 5 volumes. Tliese books are books of history, fiction and myth- 
ology. This sclioolhouse is located on a hill in the southfvestern part 
of the township about one-half mile from North Skunk river. The 
location is beautiful and healthful and issurronded by beautiful farms 
The schoolyard contains 80 sq. rds. The public road is on the north 
and west and a board fence on the south and east. 

In the yard are tifteeen trees, three hickory and twelve oak. 
Other vegetation in the yard consists of grass and gooseberry bushes 

There is no well on the schoolgrouird but the water is carried 
from a farm house near by. 

In the old schooMiouse my grandfather and grandmother re 
ceived their education In the new one my imother and myself re- 
ceived part of ours. 

The first teacher in the new schoolhouse was Henry Wright and 
the last one is Miss Adella Priest We are having a tine school now. 
Tliere are forty-two pupils enrolled They are mostly boys from 
twelve to fourteen years of age. Most of the pupils are well advanced 
and are regular and punctual in attendance. 

The Methodist people held a very interesting meeting here in 
the winter of '71 and "72. There were received several additions to 
the church during the meeting. The pastor's name was Armstrong. 
He was English by birth and was very strict about the manner in 
which his people dressed . He organized a very large class at that 
time. Only one of whom is now living, Mrs. Cowell, of Delta. 

There was a Sunday school held here twelve years ago by a Sun- 
day School Evangelist by the name of Hart. 

In the future I see ourshoolhouse built as a modern home with 
a telephone by wliich the teacher and schclars may comumnicate with 
the parents and school board as is sometimes necessary. It will be 
finished with a basement and a furnace. It will consist of two rooms 
connected by double doors which may be opened into one room and 
with the windows placed to the back and left of the pupils also hav- 



85 

inf? better modes of ventilation making it possible to have the school 
supplied with pure air continually 

In this house we will hold our public meetings and entertain- 
ments wliich will make social life in tlie community far more pleas- 
ant and agreeable than it is today. It may recjuire consolidation of 
schools to make all of this possible. 

I hope that the scboolground will be enlarged, with many nice 
shade trees, making a large and pleasant playground for the pupils. 

I hope that the school will continue to prosper and that the 
scholars will take more and more interest and strive to be useful men 
and women and when their school life is finished may they be respect- 
ed and loved by all and lead good and noble lives. 



THE first schoolhouse in dis- 
trict No. 10 German township 
was built on the divide between 
Bridge Creek and German creek, 
now Mr. Fred Meyers' field, near 
the stage road then leading 
from Sisiourney to Wasliington. 
The schoolhouse was built in 
the old pioneer style of un- 
dressed logs with a roof of clap- 
boards. There were two win- 
dows, one on each side, the size 
of the panes being eiglit by ten 
inches. The seats were made 
of slabs and the desks of un- 
dressed boards. The school- 
house was erected in 1850. It 
was also used as a church by the 
people of the community and in 
it my mother was baptized. 
Afterwards a stone schoolhouse 
was built at the place now 
known as Stony Point. The 
stone was procured in the vicin- 
ity and the work was done by Mr. Ahrens, Fred Dorman and Peter 
Frit/. About 1873. Mr. Henry Miller bought the old log schoolhouse 
and has since used it for a stable. 

Once two bo.ys were sitting together and since no other amuse- 
ment offered itself Lhey began to kick each '^ther. Of course, the 
teacher noticed the disturbance. He went to the boys seized thera 




LOUIE HTHOnMAN. 



86 

by the hair and bumped tlieir heads together. The boys thirsted for 
re ventre. While sliding that noon, they found a large stone in the 
way. They let it alone and went to get their teacher. The two boys 
got on the sled with the teacher, but just before they reached the 
stone, they jumped off: the teacher went on. He did not soon wish 
for another sleighride. 

E:;:^-:- in the course of yearS; the schoolhouse was found to be too 
small for the number of pupils. Those from the western half of the 
district found it very inconvenient to walk so far. The patrons of 
the western half of the district petitioned the schoolboard of German 
township for a division of the sub-district. It met with much op- 
position but was finally granted and division made as it now is and a 
new schoolhouse was built. For the first year it was agreed to select 
a room near the center of the district. This was before the new 
schoolhouse was built. The room selected was a southeast room 
opening from a porch in what was then Ferdinand and is now the 
William Wickenkamp residence. The teacher was Miss Lizzie 
Dunker; the sub-director was Fred Kilmer. It was decided that 
Mr Fred Schwenke Sr. and Mr. Kilmer were to choose the site for 
the new building. They selected the crest of the hill east of Bridge 
.creek, on the north side of the road, and about a mile and a half 
northeast of the mouth of Bridge creek. The new schoolhouse was 
built in 1880 by Dan Seger. 

The first teacher who taught in it was Miss Dunker. The second 
teachers's name was. Mary Young. Mr. Fred Schwenke was sub-dir- 
rector. The school boys frequently hunted rabbits on the newly 
plowed sod and then had disputes about them. Some of the teachers 
we have had since then are Libbie Wyant, Susie Jennings, Lettie 
Adams, Jessie Holland, May Jackson, Sue Downing, (in whose reign 
we used to have fine times skating) Nancy Frey, Antoinette Merz, 
Minnie Strohman, Rufus McVicker, Harry S. McVicker, Milton Hoff- 
man and George Schwenke. 

While Milton Hoffman was teaching at ]So.. 10. the boys caught 
three rabbits. M r. Hoffman proposed that we have rabbit soup. It 
was a dish never to be found in any cook book. The girls would have 
nothing to do with such haphazard cooking. We boys and Mr. Hoff- 
man did it all alone and it was fine. Mr. George Schwenke is our 
teacher at present. We have had rabbit soup this winter and we 
had a picnic dinner Monday, Feb. 2, 1901 for just the pupils and we 
had ail manner of good things to eat. 

The size of our schoolhouse is 16 by 27 feet. It is oblong in 
shape. The schoolhouse is in fairly good condition except that the 



87 

foundation is crumbling away. The schoolhouse was painted on the 
outside about a year ago 




XUMBEli 10, GEllMAN TOWNSHIP. 

The schoolhouse is nicely plastered on the inside and the ceiling 
has been painted. It has shelves for the dinner pails and hooks upon 
which to hang the wraps. We have nice pictures framed in various 
ways hung upon the walls, also tissue paper chains and silver stars on 
them strung across the front of the room. 

Our apparatus consists of mensuration blocks, McGuffy's read- 
ing charts, Caxton's charts, a globe, a map of Keokuk county and an 
excellent dictionary. The globe is about four inches in dia- 
meter. The map of Keokuk county is a new one about four feet 
square. The chimney is on the west end of the schoolhouse and the 
stove stands in the middle of the room, which has been considered 
the proper place since pioneer days. In that position it takes up the 
best part of the room and does not warm the corners of the room 
as it would if it were moved into a corner and furnished with a 
jacket. 

The schoolhouse has six windows and no window shades but the 
light is excluded by shutters. 1 1 has two wall lamps, one on each 
side, which we use wten giving an evening entertainment. The 
blackboards are six in number, two in front and two on each side of 
the room. They are made by coloring the plastering with liquid 
slating, The desks are arranged in three rows, one row on each side 
and one row in the middle. There are 16 double seats. They are all 
good with one exception. A few of them have'the initials of G. H. 
S., H. S. M., M. H. H and J. R. Mc. Where the small seats leave 
off and the large ones begin, the seats are too high and the desks too 
low for comfort or health. 

Our library is a circulating one, The number of books In the 



88 

township library is 148. The books we have at present are "Nelly's 
Silver Mine," "'The Story of our Country," "Things Will Take a 
Turn," "Modern American Oratory" and "Through the Year." We 
would like to have many more books added to the library. 

The punctuality and attendance of the pupils are good with the 
exception of the pupils from two families whose names I prefer not to 
mention. The number of pupils enrolled is twenty-five. The num- 
ber of visits from parents and others is about one per month. Our 
sub director comes very often also. We have a program every two 
months and will have one at the end of the term. 

In the near future, I would like to have consolidation of schools 
so that we might have a high school 1 would like a large building 
to be heated by hot air, a deep well with good water; paved roads all 
over the to>Anship and men hired to take the children to and from 
school in wagons. I would have a little oil stove in each wagon and 
have the wagon covered like a stagecoach so they could go rain or 
shine I would like to have a gymnasium and a boys' military com- 
pany The building should have two or three rooms with tools and 
material te make things. 

It should also have a room where girls might be taught by a 
good teacher how to cook and sew. There should be a yard contain- 
ing about two acres partly beautified by trees and ttowers, partly used 
as a playground ana the rest given up to fiower and vegetable gardens 

The schoolhouse should have adjustable seats, plenty of necs- 
sary apparatus and many good pictures and casts bought by the dis- 
trict In fact, it should be a second home. 

High above the building should float a large American flag. 



89 




IN securing facts necessary 
for anything like a connected 
history of the early school life 
of District No 2, East Lancas- 
ter township, I have been great- 
ly hindered by the fact that all 
of the parents of those early 
days are dead, and very few of 
tlie pupils who then attended 
school are yet living in the 
neighborhood! Time has effaced 
many things from their memor- 
ies. TTowever, 1 have been en- 
abled to secure some rather dis- 
connected items of history. The 
first school house was located 
something more than a mile 
east of Lancaster on the creek 
bank southeast from where 
Louis Follman now lives. It 
DON WALKER. was a Small log building with a 

clapboard roof held on by weight poles. The floor was made of 
roughly hewn boards laid loose on the sleepers. The house being .sit- 
uated on a hillside, one end of the floor was some distance from the 
ground. \M ischievous boys would creep under, and after school had tak- 
en up they would play dog fight, howling and barking and otherwise 
distracting the attention of the school, and even raising boards, and 
producing great consternation. Uncle James Gilliland of Lancaster 
might even remember such an instance. 

On one side of the room a log had been cut out, and the space 
filled with eight by ten inch window panes. Slab seats were used, 
which were arranged around the fire place. The teacher occupied the 
space just in front of the fire thus insuring his own comfort, at least. 
(Jf the teachers, I can learn the name of but one, Orin White, or 
"Orange" as the scholars called him. His appearance would cause 
one to think that he was a direct descendant of Ichabod Crane. 

The water was obtained from the creek and at one place where 
the ice had been cut away, it was quite deep, and while one of the 
boys was making a verdant effort at gallantry toward one of the 
large girls a little rascal slipped up from behind and sent him head- 
long into the icy water. It cooled him some. 

This school accommodated a large section of the country, even 
Lancaster, the county seat, sent her pupils here. 

The next school house was located about one hundred and fifty 



90 

yardsnortheast Of the Doggett Cemetery. It was a small frame 
building, built by Presley Doggett for a cheese house and donated by 
him for school purposes The tirst teacher was a pioneer teacher-a 
woman of virtue and of energy with a good mind and a love for her 
work. She was a superior teacher with plenty of physical courage, 
and she did not liestitate to chastise any one who needed punish- 
ment, and the large.st scholars always linew after the fracas, who had 
been "Ik-kaV 

Among the duties the scIioUus, at that time, had to perform 
was to write compositions on subjects given them by 
the teachers. At one time a boy was asked to write a composition 
about "The Ox" and this is what he wrote, ' The ox is a very useful 
animal Its milk is good for them that like it." 




NUMBER 2, LANCASTER TOWNSHIP. 

This building was burned during a term of school taught by 
Mat'iias Williams. Tlien another sclioolhouse was built one-half 
rnile south of the Doggett Cemetery on land supposed to belong to 
Andrew Doggett Jacob Shumaker and Mr Stokes had the contract 
to build tlie !-choolhouse The shingles were purchased from Mr 
Hutton who owned a sliingle mill across South Skunk River. The 
house was built in 18<«. while Bcnjamine Crabb, who was living four 
and one-half miles east of Lancaster, and William H. Walker, living 
west of Ilayesville, were directors. At that time there were but three 
directors in eacli township, Mr. Joseph Reynold, who lived east of 
Lancaster, was treasurer for the township. 

After the schoolhouse was built a road was established and it 
was found to be ou land now belonging to S. A Gilliland, and par- 



91 

tially in the roadway, and it remained so as lontf as it was lit to be 
occupied. Some of the most popular teachers were:— Elijah Brolliar 
John Swearing^en and Frank Harris. 

The yard around the house was covered with thorn and hazel 
bushes A north hillside made a capital place for coasting, and one 
day when some of the Lancaster boys came visiting, they paid too 
much attention to the big- girls, so the No. 2 boys thought. It had 
been thawing most of the day and water had collected at the foot of 
the hill. The visitors were enticed to get on a couple of long boards 
with an experienced pilot for each. Away they went like a streak, 
but as the water was reached the guides rolled off. and made haste to 
reach the schoolhouse. The visitors were mad. but did not feel lik« 
facing the girls and so went home for repairs 

The room was heated by an eld cannon stove, the top of which 
was a place for soot and dust to collect, and it atferded some of 
boys great amusement to accidentally(V) blow soot in the teacher's 
face. 

Tlie pipe was frequently tilled with soot, and one evening when 
one of the boys, Sara Walker, was fixing the tire for the night;— a 
couple of boys, Sam Gilliland and Alva Harris, who had been hunting, . 
came along and said, ••(), we'll blow the soot out for you,"' and wrap- 
ping a large quantity of powder in a newspaper, put it in the stove. 
After setting a bu ;ket of coal on the top of the stove and touching a 
match to the paper, they quickly made their exit. A loud report was 
heard and the boys rusliing into the house found coal, soot and stove 
doors strewn over the room The pipe also was blown to pieces but 
no one reported to the teacher the cause of the catastrophe 

The benches were home made and furnished by the '■t)arents. 
The blackboard consisted of boards painted and hung on the wall. It 
was generally too slick to write on, but it served as an excellent 
place for the boys to stick their knives. 

The building was finally sold to Louis Follman and it now 
serves him the purpose of a granary. A larger house was then built 
on land bought of S. A. Gilliland. It was erected in 1893 at a cost of 
$800. The schoolground consists of half an acre of ground, with sev- 
eral shade trees and eticlosed by a substantial woven wire fence 

The building is neatly painted inside and out. It contains 
thirteen square yards of blackboard covered with slating. 

The decorations inside consist of several pictures of noted men 
and famous paintings. 

The district at one time furnished the school with a globe but 
the boys used it for a foot ball and it did not last long. The school 



92 

is supplied with a chart, also a large map of the United States. 

The library of thirty-four books consists of biographical, geogra- 
phical, historical, philosophical poetical, and juvenile literature. 
Theee books were selected by the school board. 

There are enough seats for thirty scholars but only twenty-one 
are enrolled. 

Tiie average attendance for .Tanuary, 1904, was eighteen and the 
punctuality was 951 per cent 

"Parents Wont Visit the School"' is an an appropriate song 
for District No. 2. The very efficient teacher of the present time is 
Miss Sophia H. Strohman much loved by her pupils. 

Among the students who attended 'school at District No. 2 
and afterwards entered a profession are Dr. S A. Walker, Dr. J B. 
Keaster and Frank Harris, a graduate of pharmacy. 

As to the future of the school, I can only give my ideas as to 
what the school should oe. I hope to see a large school rouse heated 
by furnace so that all parts of the house may be equally warm, and 
furnished with all the necessary apparatus needed for thorough 
teaching of all branches taught in the country schools. There should 
be an extensive library of choice literature and the room tastefully 
decorated with pictures and potted plants and seated with adjustable 
and suigle seats. 

The school should be .supplied with pure water, wash basins, 
and a sink connected with .sewer pipes. A cloak room is also a neces- 
sary adjunct. 

The schoolyard should consist of an acre or more of ground 
which should be kept neat and clean with nicely arranged flower 
gardens, some shrubbery of the easiest grown varieties and plenty of 
shade trees. In short, the school and its surroundings should be made 
as beautiful as possible for "A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever " 




KAV IIAIIDINO 



TITE history of the Pleasant 
View school is a very interest- 
ing' one. A small tract of land 
(•()(itainin<( about sixty S(iuare 
rods was purchased of Row 
('lemens and chosen as a school- 
house site. 

In order to raise money to 
huHd t he school house an assess- 
ment was made and about six 
hundred dollars was raised— but 
this beinj,"- insutllcient— thd late 
Reuben Davis, who was then 
treasurer of the district, was 
authorized to loan the money. 
Sometime afterwards another 
as-,essinent was luade. and th's 
toijether with the tirst, was 
enough to build the schoolliouse. 
But Mr. Clemens to whom the 
inoney had been loaned was un- 
able to return it. However, as 
he owned a sawmill he proposed 
to saw enoujrh luuiber for tlie building- and ui this way pay back the 
money. The proposal was accepted and in 18(i9 the tirst .schoolhou?e 
in district No. 4 was erected. 

It was a rude structure with e([Uipments and seats of wooden 
slal)s. Several years later new seats were purchased and this mads 
the pupils m:)i-e comfortable in one respect at least. 

Here, ^ arion Garrett, Garley Head lee, Mrs. Fred Procrantz, 
Mrs. Charley Sanders and many others received their tirst education 

One of their teacliers, Miss Mary Kendell, decided to have an 
exhibition on the evening of the last day of her school and careful 
preparations were made As the .school building was a very small 
one. it was thought impossible for all who wished to attend to gain 
admittance, so Will Clemens invited them to hold the entertainment 
in his newly built barn. The invitation was accepted and on the ap- 
pointed night a very large number of their parents, neighbors and 
friends gathered there and heard the well rendered program. 

Fifteen years later it was decided to build a larger and more 
substantial schoolliouse and the old one was sold ro Harrison Covey 
and soon enshrined in memories of th^ past. 



94 

The new building- which took its place still stands, and could it 
speak, it would no doubt have many an interesting]: tale to tell of the 
boys and ^irls who assembled there, many of whom are now men and 
women of prominence possessing beautiful homes of tlieir own, others 
are teaching- in the public schools, and some have been laid to rest in 
tlie silent grave 




NUMKER 4, WASIIUsOTON TOWNSHIP. 

The present school was built in 1884. It has a healthy location 
and also a beautiful one for it is situated on, the main road leading to 
Delta. Sigourney and Wliat Cheer On either side are large farm 
houses, to the northwest we can see a large part of What Cheer and 
to the northeast the tall spire of the German church several miles 
distant. 

The schoolground is almost level and is surrounded by thirty- 
one trees -two rows on the north and one row on the other three 
sides The trees are beautiful, tall maples, but the recent storm has 
•broken many of the large limbs and it will be some time before they 
will be as large again as they were. 

We have four (lower beds consisting of roses, lillies, bluebells 
and Bonncing Betty and also a strawberry bed. 

The yard is not enclosed with a tasty and substantial fence for 
Oti one side there is a board fence, on two sides wire fences and alone 



95 

the road hitch rivcks. Neitlierdo we have a well with a pump in it 
on the school grrouud. 

The schoolhouse is of a rectangular sliape. beinjr twenty-four 
feet long and eiKhteen feet wide and built on a rock foundation. It 
stands facing tlie west witli a boa'-d walk extending from the door to 
the road, and lias tliree windows on the north and tiiree on the 
soutli. 

The school building is painted wliite on the outside and l)lue on 
tha inside. Its walls are decorated with pictures of children, fruit 
and flowers. On tlie blackboard is a border of red carnations and a 
picture of the Martyred Presidents. 

We have twelve good desks and double seats, two blackboards, 
one in the front and the other in the back of the schoolroom, but 
they are not in very good condition. The stove is old and almost 
worn out There is a large bell on the schoolhouse and on these cold 
winter mornings its clear mellow chimes can be lieard for (luite a dis- 
tance The library books, forty-one in number, are not kept at the 
schoolhouse but are left with the secretary of the school board. 

I have only attended school liere a few terms and we have usu- 
ally had about twelve pupils enrolled but this winter owing to sick- 
ness and other reasons welhave liad but tive. My classmate, Leona 
Couplin and I are the only ones coming regularly and being punctual 
in attendance. 

We have had nine visitors this term, one visit was made by the 
president of the school board and one by my mother. 

With the exception of school and telephone meetings no other 
remarkable meetings have been held in the school house. 

We have no maps, charts or globes to make our work more sue 
cessful and interesting. But I hope improvement will follow im- 
provement so that we shall soon have a large, well ventilated .scliool- 
room: tlie windows so arranged that the light will not fall directly on 
our eyes, and have window curtains to exclude tlie light at our will; 
also well'supplied with maps, charts, globes and solid slate black 
boards, adjustable and single seats; the walls of the schoolroom neatly 
painted and decorated; the yard enclosed by a good, substantial fence 
and made so pleasant and corrfortable that our school shall become a 
second home. 

Rut while we are waiting for these things let us wisely improve 
the present by studying diligently aild e^ver bear in mind the quota* 
tion we have committed this term; 



96 



"Labor for learninj? before you are old, 

For knowledge is better than silver or ^^oid: 
Gold if you had it. would soon fade away. 

But learninj,' once s^ot.ten will never decay. 
And m^y we so live that we shall grow up to be useful men and 
wouKMi, and when life's school is ended and the last roll is called, may 
each one of us be there and hear tne welcome words of the Master:— 
"VV Income, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joys 
of thy Lord." 



* * * * * 



THE school which 1 am now 
j,''Oinf;f to describe was named 
in honor of the Father of our 
country and is known as the 
Washin^'-ton school. It is lo- 
cated in the southeastern part 
of section No. 2, District No. 
'2, Adams township, Keokuic 
county, state of Iowa. 

An acre of land was pur- 
chased from Joseph Bailey, in 
the \ear 1874 and on this site 
which is the most suitable 
and healthful location in the 
district, the present school- 
house was erect?d. It was 
built by Joshua Jones and is a 
one story structure facing the 
south, with a base of 20 by 30 
feet. 

.siDXKV AXMKAR. NUMBER 2. ADAMS Wcslcy Greene of Iowa 
TOWNSHIP. county was the flrst instructor 

of this school and Howard Dansdill of Thornbnrg the last of its list 

of teachers. 

After the opening of the school, the members of the district 

put out a large number of maple trees along the north and west sides 

of the schoolgrounds, also a pan- of boxelders in front of the school 

house and an apple tree nearby, which never fails to yield annually 

its share of troubles to the boys and girls. 

Originally there was a four board fence around the playground 

but in later years the directors of the district decided that no fence 

was needed along the road and accordingly it was removed and has 

never been replaced . 




97 

In the year ISiXi the sclioolliouse was repaired. II was then 
painted on the outside and replastered on the inside This made a 
very handsome and comfortable schoolhouse. 

In the spiing of 1898 a well was diij^ a short discauce south- 
west of this and it was furnislied with an iron pump. 

Previous to this, water was carried from tlie neigliborhood 
wells by the pupils; but since that time an abundant supply of water 
can be had without much effort. 

In the year 1899 a tine coal house was built a short distance 
back of the schoolbuilding. One year later a library was placed in 
the school. This library consists of thirteen books which were se- 
lected by the county superintendent. 

Of those who finished the common branches in tliis school, some 
have entered higher schools but most of them are <iuiet humble 
tillers of the soil We are proud of the prosperous farmers who have 
finished this school, for farming is one of the most noble callings of 
life. The freedom and independence of its followers are envied and thBi 
greatest men of our nation were born on farms. . ' 

No time in life is treasured with as much pleasure as the 
days enj()\ ed at the country school. At no time in life can character 
be moi-y easily moulded than in the early days at the country school. 
Therp is no uiore important fnctor than the country school in the pre-' 
serving of the higli moral, physical and iitellectual standard of 
our country. 

Washiiigton school, wliile its past is not a spotless one, has a 
record to be envied and is now one of the mo.st prominent sch ols of 
our county. 

Tla-ough the t hirty years that have intervened, the situation of 
this schoolbuilding has been uncl.angerf. The desks with their jack- 
knife carved initials are the same that were uesd just thirty years 
ago Jiach desk is made so as to accomodate two occupants although 
sometimes, by the increased attendance, the old maxim "Always 
room for one more" is oU.served and accordingly one is placed in the 
middle. 

The walls are adonicd with pictures and objects appropriate to 
a patriotic school. Beside Uie many pictiu-es which attempt to 
describe objects of nature are the portraitsof Mr.s. William >[cKinley, 
wife of our late martyied piesident. Abraham Lincoln, the great 
Emancipator, George Washington, the illustrious of Father our coun- 
try, and the county suparintendent, vir. CapE. .1/iller, to whom we 
should bestow honor for the result of the many improvements of late 
in the schools of the county, and consider him as the chief exponent 



98 

in the origination of the present meeting. No greater incentive than 
these images is necessary to encourage the mind of the industrious 
and ambitious pupil to strive to emulate the virtues of |the illustrious 
patriots of our country. 

In their grave but calm features can be traced the true trend of 
character. How well it may all be stated in this most beautiful 
poem:— 

"Lives of great men all remind us 

We con make our lives sublioie, 
And, departing, leave behind us 
Footsteps on the sands of time." 

Among the aids that assist the instructor in imparting know- 
ledge to the pupils are two charts. (>ne of these describes the physic- 
al features of the earth by written description and drawings In the 
other are embodied all tlie important principles of arithmetic. In 
other words, it is supplied with the ordinary equipments of a fcodern 
sell 00 1. 

The outward features of this building present a somewhat 
quaint appearance. Si ice its remodeling its changes speak plainly 
how thoroughly it has fulfilled the purpose for which it was intended. 

Tlie infant trees as they existed some thirty years ago are to 
the present groA'e as the tiny acorn is to the mighty oak. Ofttimes 
has their grateful shade been employed as a substitute for the mono- 
tonous quietness of the schoolroom in warm sunny days. The birds and 
rustling leaves seem to tell tales on the mischievous pupil who was 
successful enough to escape the keen glance of the master. 

The future of this scliool is an unknown quanlty. It may stand 
for many years or it may be absorbed by tlie almost universally dis- 
cussed problem of consolidating the schools. Doubtless a time will 
come when the country school will be a thing of the past. 

The building in wliich Abraliam Lincoln received his tirst bit of 
education was a log structure. In one end of the building was a tire- 
place and the desks and seats were made of slabs. Today we have 
thousands of tine schoolhouses throughout tiie country besides the 
many colleges, universities and state institutions where we can com- 
plete our education We can scarcely believe that so great a progress 
can be made in the next tifty years Yet many things which seem im 
possible are accomplished. 

Much time and immense sums of money are expended annually 
by our youth in acquiring an education. 

Let us pusii our efforts in the right direction. If the country 



99 

school is not givinsr satisfactory results, let us east it aside and get 
something better. 

1 cannot predict with any degree of certainty a future whether 
of progress or otherwise for Washington school. 1 can only say that 
it may be judged by the past and leave the matter rest in the hands 
of Father Time 



PART 4- BI-COUNTY HISTORICAL CONTEST. 

The worli has been a remarkable success and is wholly originaJ 
with the county superintendent of our county, who is trying to im- 
proye the schools in a practical way— penmanship, the ability to writ« 
a good, plain, legible hand the ability to express thoughts clearly and 
well. The work has created an unusual interest in the schools of the 
county.— The Keokuk County News, March 3, 1904. 

We note with pleasure that Supt. Cap E. Miller's example is be- 
ing emulated by Ports of Iowa county, who pulls off a bijr rural school 
contest along lines almost identical with those followed by Miller in 
his recent big meeting at Sigourney. May this good leaven spread 
until it is working in everyone of Iowa's «9 counties.— Keota Eagle, 
April 4. 

When 1 learnd that Sup't. Ports was following our plan in 
Iowa county I asked him if he would cor^perate with us in holding a 
bi-county historical contest. He was willing to help with the work 
and a program was arranged accordingly: 



***•»* 



JSi-aountB Scbool Contest nnt> Educational Meeting ot fowa anO 

lieohuit Counties at "Woclb EngUsb, f Owa, jfrlOai? anO 
SaCuiOae, ftnv 13 14, iix»4. 

A Gold Medal will be awarded to the contestant who receives 
first place hi each contest and a Silver Medal will be awarded to the 
contestant who receives second place in each contest. 

PROGRAM. 

Friday Evening 7:30 o'clock. 

Music North English High School Chorus 

(1) GRADED SCHOOL HISTORICAL CONTEST. 

"The Russo-Japanese War" Carl Lewis 



100 

'■ My School— Past, Present and Future" Emma Lest/er 

Music Boys' Quartet 

(2) RURAL SCHOOL HISTORICAL CONTEST. 

My School— 'Past, Present and Future," Don Walker, Albert A. 

Hogan, Sylvia Blaylock, Ethel Roberts, Lloyd Fry. 

Music ...North English High School Chorus 

Thomas McDonald Eva Allsup 
Ella Jones Orla Chacey 
Heriton DeLana. 
Music Boys' Quartet 

■ (3 ) GRADED SCHOOL DECLAMATORY CONTEST. 

"Mice at Play" Rub/ Evans 

"The Royal Bumper Degree" i . : Artiiur Prentiss 

"The Yankee in Love" Wilber Baughman 

"The Debatin Society ' . Lorene Allison 

Decision of Judges. 

Awarding of Medals. 
Music .... North Eiigllsh High School Chorus 

EDucattonalTRectlnfl, 

A bi-county educat onal meeting was held in North English 
the day following the bi-county contest ajid the following subjects 
were discussed in an informal way: 

"How Can a Better Educational Sentiment be Created'?" 
"How Can School Sites be Beautified and School Property Im- 
proved?" 

"How Can we Introduce the Elements of Agriculture in our 
Schools? 

Hot Shots— "Things that Need our Special Attention." 
This was an interesting meeting. Teachers from both counties 
took an active part in all of the discussions. The most pleasing part 
about the discussions was that they were all informal. Not one 
paper was read during the entire session. It is a good thing for 
teachers of neighboring counties to meet together occasionally and 
exchange ideas and experiences. 



101 

BI COUNTY CONTEST. 



Held at North English on Friday Evening. 



Miss Emma Lester Wins First Prizp and Receives the 
Gold Vledal, Don Walker (ier,s Silver Medal. 



The bi-county school contest was lield in North English last 
Friday nigfit and was a success in every particular. The weather 
was not very favaroble but nevertheless t)ie house was crowded wiih 
people who came from both counties to hear their representative?. 
The plan of historical product ions using the subject 'My School, Past, 
Present and Future" and originated by Sup't Miller is being followed 
by a rnniiber of counties in this st*ite and in other states. It raakts 
the school house and yard a foundation for the introduction of the 
elements of agriculture in our schools. 

Study the tables of the grades given by the three judges and 
you will notice all the judges gave Miss Emma Lester tirst place in 
the Bi-county Graded Historical Contest and of course she received 
the gold medal. Miss Lester is a remarlcably intelligent young lady 
and if Keokuk county always sends out such representatives she will 
win many honors. The total for this contest was as follows: 

Carl Lewis. Iowa county 86^ 

Emma Lester. Keokuk county 88.16 

The rural contest was very interesting and below are given t]\e 
names of the contestants in the order of their success Friday evening: 

Thomas McDonald, Iowa county — 93"i 

Don Walker, Keokuk county 91| 

Orla Chacey, Keokuk county 87| 

Sylvia Blaylock, Keokuk county 87* 

Lloyd Fry. Keokuk county 87 

Ella Jones, Iowa county 86* 

Eva Allsup, Keokuk county 85* 

Benton DeLana 85* 

Albert A. Hogan, Iowa county 83* 

Ethel Roberts, Iowa county l 80 

lowji OQVinty 428 andj5-6, Keokuk county 439*. 



102 

Notice that while Iowa county received first 'place and gold 
medal in this contest that Don Walker and Keokuk county received 
second place and the silver medal. Also notice the sum total marks 
received by Iowa county is only 428 and 5-6 while that of Keokuk is 
439s— a difference of 10 and 5-0 in favor of Keokuk county. Notice, 
too, that Sylva Blaylock and Orla Chacey tied for third place and 
that Lloyd Fry received fourth place Notice, again, that not one of 




Lloyd Fry, Orla Chacey, Lorene Allison, Sylvia Blaylock, 

Emma Lester, Don Walker, Eva Allsup, Arthur Prentiss. 

Kejkuk county's represantatives received a place lower than 6th in 
this contest in which ten persons took part. 

The comparison of marks for the two counties in the Graded 
Historical contest gives a difference of 1 and 62-75 in favor of Keo- 
kuk county. 1 and 62-75 plus 10 and 5-6 equals 12 and ;i.9-50 or the 
difference in favor of Keokuk county as a result of the two historical 
contests. 

In the declamatory contest Iowa county received both medals. 
The representatives from Keokuk county did well even if they did 



103 

not receive medals. Below are the grades received by the contes- 
tants: 

Wilber Baughman, Iowa county 97i 

Ruby Evans, Iowa county 93 5-6 

Arthur Prentiss, Keokuk county 90i 

Lorene Allison. Keokuk county ,-..84* 

Iowa county 190 and l-(i. Keokuk county 175. 

The bi-cuunty educational meeting held Sathrday was fairly 
well attended. It was a success in every way. The people of North 
English entertained the teachers well.— The News, May 19. 

It may not be out of order to publish a letter from Benjamin 
F. Shambaugh. Iowa City. Iowa, who represents the State Histori- 
cal Society of Iowa. 

Supt Cap Miller. 
Slgourney. Iowa. 
My dear Mr Miller:— 

Mr S K Stevenson informs me that you have 
been condutcing an interesting experiment in collecting information 
relative to the history of the schools of your couirty. I am very much 
interested in this matter and would be greatly obliged to you if you 
could give me a general account of the plan pursued and the results 
accomplished. Perhaps the essays or papers prepared during the 
past 'year could be permanently tiled in the library of the State His- 
torical Society of Iowa 

V'ery cordially yours. 

Benjamin F. SIiambaugh. 
This letter delighted our representatives for they think that It 
will be an honor for them to have their historical compositions placed 
on permanent tile in the library of the Historical Society of Iowa. 



104 



Finsneial Standing as a Result of the Township Entertainments. 



PLACE 


MONEY i 
REC. j 


1 MONEY SPENT 


BAL'NCE 




SlO 85 


JUDGK8 'HALL or CH 

$4 44i S3 00 


TOTAL 




Richland 


S 7 44 


$ 9 41 


Ollie 


19 55 


3 46 3 50 


6S96 ' 


12 59 


Marti nsburg 


12 25 


i 40 1 00 


3 40 ! 


8 85 


Hedrick 


14 85 


1 50 


1 50 


13 35 


Hayesville 


5 05 


1 25| 1 00 


2 25 


2 80 


Delta 


11 00 


2 43 1 50 


3 43 


7 07 


B&st Laffer 


3 50 


2 00 


2 00 


1 50 


Number Six 


4 95 


2 00 


2 OO 


2 <*5 


Number EigUt 


•» 95 


2 00 


2 00 


7 95 


Keota 


23 20 


4 23[ 2 00 


23! 


16 97 


Talleyrand 


10 ao 


2 42! 


2 42 1 


7*78 


Kinross 


20 30 


5 02 2 00 


7J02 ' 


13-: 28 


South EniflisU 


13 4*1 


2 50 


2 50' 


10^90 
10135 


Keswick 


J4 35 


3 00 1 00 


4 00 


Gibson 


17 40 


1 1 00 


1 00 : 


16 40 


What Cheer 


22 40 


2 OOi 15 00 


17 00 


5 40 


Total 


fn9 2(* 


S40 051 $31 IX> 


$71 65 


«147 55 



Money Received 
Money Paid Out 



Balance 



$219 
71 



$147 55 



Financial Standing as a Result of County CntertSlwi$pents. 



Received from sale of tickets Friday niirht 

" " Saturday night 

Total 



John Cameron 


$20 OO 






Alice Mendenhall 


5 00 






Henry Wallace 


7 70 






P. G. Holden 


8 00 






M. E. Log^an 


2 65 






Bruce Francis 


1 68 






S. J. Finley 


1 44 






J. R. McCoUum 


2 54 






Prof. W. R. Lytle 


3 39 






Janitors 


8 75 






Music 


5 86 


Total Amount Received 


$87 00 


For Board and l,odfiri|itf 


3 00 


Total Amount Paid Oui 


76 51 


Warren Mcx^pan 


6 50 







Total 


$76 51 


Balance $10 49 



Expenses For Excursion and Publication. 

Larsre Posters for Excursion $ 17 00 

Alice Williams 8 00 

Maurice Shortess 100 

Cuts from Michael is Etterravintr Company 30 50 

Cuts from other parties 5 00 

Express on Cuts 3 00 

fibbon and Printing for Excursion Badges 8 50 
xcursii>n Banners 5 52 

Telephone CaWs ^^^1^ 

Tota'l $ 79 52 



Finanfial Standing Today. 



RECEIVED 






PAID OUT 




Balance from Twp. Entertainments 

" " County 

" Bi-county ■■ " 


$147 55 
10 4<J 
15 93 


Deficit for Educational Rally 
Ex. for Exursion and I'ublication 
Balance on Hand Today 


$ 40 03 
79 52 
54 42 


Total 


$173 97 


Total 


$173 97 



r 



AGRICULTURE FOR COMMON SCHOOLS. 



) 



part 1— :i6ot6' anO ©iiig' donvenrlon. 

Something has already been said about the conventions held in 
Sigourney Maich 2<5Mi but 1 want to add that these conventions were 
the first of the kind ever held in Iowa. Prof. Holden and Henry 
Wallace were both pleased and surprised to see the large number of 
boys and girls in attendance. Prof Ilolden said that it was the larg- 
est number lie had ever seen at the first meeting of an organization of 
this kind. A very large number of the farmers attended. 

The Sigourney Review has this to say: ITenry Wallace of Des 
Moines and Prof. Ilolden talked to the boys and girls and to a large 
number of farmers during the forenoon and gave them to believe that 
there is no place like the old farm. Tliese talks were interesting and 
instructive. 

®ur aSoi20. 
Keokuk county is \\\ the lead in the organization of boys' agri 
cultural clubs and the effort is to be followed up and watched with 
interest. Any thing that gets the pupil to thinking carefully from 
original sources and his experiences and ideas thus gained will Ijo of 
value to him.- Ihe Wcsttiii 1 cachcr. 

?l IRoval 2Hcirtcultural /ftcclina 

Some three weeks ago we were invited by Cap Miller, superintend- 
ent of the schools of Keokuk county (Iowa) to at tend a meeting 
of the boys from rural schools in the entire county at Sigourney. It 
was the most delightful and inspiring meeting it was ever our privi- 
lege to attend. The roads were practically impassable The condition 
may be imagined wlien we say that the bus driver wheeled trunksdown 



106 



to the station at Sig-ourney on wlieel-barrows, and yet we found tie 
large hiy-h school auditorium lllled with boys and girls from eight to 
tifteen years of age, some of whom liaJ come on the train but most of 
whom had walked one, two, three, four, five, six, seven miles to at- 
tend the meeting. 

We have asked N'r. Miller to tell us how he did it for we want 
all otiier county superintetidenrs to get on to this trick. Iowa coun- 
ty has already caught the inspiratinii, and before tiiis reaches our 
readers we will have met and talked with Iowa county boys at Wil- 
liamsburg'-. v\ e understand that one or two other counties are 
taking up tlie suhjt'ct. II this is sutliciently catching all over 
the .slate, as we expect it to he in tiim; the farmers will have to look 
out for their laurels or the boys now in school will be running t he 
farms ;md sending the old men to town to rust out.— Wallaces' Farm- 
er, April 15, 10<!4 




AUCHIB BAKEHOIISB, OMAR HOUSE, ALBERT BKINKK, IIBNRY BEINKE. 

But I must not neglect to tell you that four boys from German 
township sang and played to the delight of all who attended the 
the county contests and conventions. I found these boys one night 
when I attended the historical contest in German township 
They are four of the best boys I ever knew. Th.ey work while they 
work, play while they play and sing while they sing. 



101 



7\ Xo^B' Xanauaae. 



1 attended the Boys' Convention which was held in March and 
1 thoujfht is was tine. I like to hear Prof. Ilolden and Mr. Wallace 
talk. -Eddy Fkey, 

1 wish to join the Boys' Agriculture Club. 1 think that will be 
interesting.— Ernie Hkrr. 

'245 boys are now members of the Boys" Agriculture Club and 175 
girlsare members of the Girls' Home Culture Club. 

Counts Otficcrs. 

boys' (LI H. 

President— Don Walker, Sigourney U II 1. Iowa. 
Secretary— Percy Friday, Sigourney, Iowa. 

I Glenn Heninger, lledrick R 3, Iowa 

!pjxecutive Committee v Clifford Harper, Si;;ouniey. Iowa. 

' C ark McC'racken. Thorn luirg. Iowa 

girls' club. 

President— Emma Lester, South Enj,^lish, Iowa. 
Secretary— Orla Chacey. Richland. Iowa. 

i Sylvia Klaylock, South Englisii, Iowa. 

Executive Committee ■] JjTva Allsup, Delta, Iowa 

' Gladys Storms, Sigourney Iowa. 

Following are given the names of boys who have tiecn appoint- 
ed as presidents and secretaries ot the Boys' Ai;ricult lire Club In tlieir 
respective lownshlps. 

TOWNSHIP I'RESIOKNT AOOUESS SECRETARY ADDRESS 

Adams. Clark Warnock. Keswick Vincent ChaU'ee. ^^ ebster. 

ClearCreek, i.^oyd Engle, Talleyrand Liborius " pnrad, Talleyrand. 
Eflgli&h River. Lynn Slate, South Eng Erwir. Cook, South Edglisli. 
German Albert Polke. Sigourney. Walter Strohman. Sigourney. 

Jackson. Roy Shelly. Ollie. Delano Starr, Ollie. 

Lafayette, Chas. Kirkpatri'k, Keota. Loyd Kennel, Keota. 

Lancaster. Rus-sel Hayes, Hayesville. Ray Jones, Hayesville. 

Liberty. Walt«r Huxford, South Kng. Samuel Brower, South Eng. 
Prairie. Harold Morton, Thornburg. Chas. Watson, Thornburg 

Richland, IvanTracey, Richland 

Sigourney. Percy Friday, Sigourney Chas Richmond, Sigourney. 
Steady Rim Roxford Smith Martinsbu'g Glenn Heninger Hedrick R3 
Van Buren. Ethen Hemsley, Sigourney. Cliflord Plarper. Sigourney. 
Warren, Arthur Prentiss, Delta. Clifford Thomas. Delta. 

Benton. Fred Utterback, Hedrick. Clyde Stroud, Hedrick. 

Washington, Ralph Sandeis, What Cheer R2, Earl Burdock Delta R 1 



108 

Following are given the names of the girls who have been ap- 
pointed as presidents and secretaries of the Girls' Home Culture 
Club in their respective townships: 

TOWNSHIP PRESIDENT ADDRESS SECRETARY ADDRESS 

Adams, Mary Mank. Webster. Vera Chaffee, Webster. 

Clear Creek, Mary Abraham, Talleyrand, Lorcy Tucker, Talleyrand. 
English River, Alma M'Combs, North Eng , Merle Sheaffer, So. Eng. 
German, Mable Witten, Sigourney, Clara Kracht, Sigourney RR 4 
Jackson, Effie Shy, Ollie 

Lafayette, Mamie Cook. South English. Pearl Holzworth, Harper. 
Lancaster. Ilattie Jacobs. Lancaster, Fay Weller. Sigourney, RR 3 
Liberty. Tressie Xiswander. .So, Eng. RUl. Agnes Hurd, Kinross 
Prai ie. Mamye Stra.sser. Coal 'reek, Lorene Allison, Gibson. 
Richland, OilaChacey, Richland. Pearl Davis, Richland 
Sigourney. Gertrude Xeas, Sigourney Helen Stockman Sigourney 
Steady Run, Iva Ru>sell. Hedrick. Cora Rasmus, Hedrick. 

Van Buren, Bessie Fitzgerald, Sigourney. Buda Keller, What Cheer. 
Warren. Eva Allsup. Delta 

Benton, Alta Utterback, Hedrick. Blanche Henry, Hedrick. 
Washington, Fay Harding, Wliat Ciieer. Fay Slanders What Cheer. 



part 2 EDiicational Eicnrefon 

The Keokuks are very much interested in practical things 
along educational lines and they don't hesitate to gather some pleas 
ure as they go along. Indeed they are a liappy and energetic set of 
boys and girls. They are beginning to realize that the farm is one of 
the best places on earth. 

It has been a long time since we first began to plan for An 
Educational Excursion under the auspices or the Keokuk County 
Boys' Agriculture Club and Girls' Home Culture Club to the College of 
Agriculture and Experiment Station of Iowa, at Ames, June 3rd, 
1904. I don't need to tell you why such an excursion is appropriate 
fer these boys and girls. The word experiment tells the why for the 
boys and the words elome.stk sdcmc tell the ivhy for the girls. And a 
visit to tshe Capitol means something to every person in our state. 

Everybody was invited to go with the Keokuks and almost 
ererybody went as you will notice from the newspapers: 



109 

FIFTEEN HUNDRED MAKE TRIP. 



Excursion the Greatest in tlie County's History. 



The excursion to Ames last Friday drew a larger crowd than 
anyone ever dreamed it would. 

When Mr. Miller be^an ti>,niriti:; oi this excursion with the 
railroad authorities he believed he might get four hundred people 
to take advantage of the cheap excursion and see the state agricul- 
tural school. As the time drew near he was sure of that number but 
it swelled far beyond his expectations. Tiiere were somewhere close 
to 1500 people on that excursion. The exact number is more likely 
to exceed than fall below that number. 

There were 590 tickets sold at this place and the cars seemed 
filled before they arrived here. 

The plan was one worked out in connection with the boys' ag- 
ricultural clubs that have been organized in the county during the 
past six months. 

lihese boys and girls were given an opportunity to see for them- 
selves how the state is prepared to help them in their agricultural 
studies, consequently the trip to Ames. 

The crowd however was not confined to school children exclu- 
sively. Their parents went with them in very many instances and en 
joyedthe treat as much as did the youngsters. 

We venture that the effect of this will be seen in the boys and 
girls for years to come -especially those who determine to be fcirmers 
and farmers' wives They will know that there is something to the 
scientific problem of agriculture and will study it out for themselves 
in part at least. 

The train was due here at 5:30 and arrived here Jabout 10 min- 
utes late. 

The train was decorated and contained a band a«id the four 
boys from German township to sing as musicians. 

of course the faculty and all the school authorities gave them a 
royal greeting and everybody was delighted with the reception ac- 
corded . 

It was a great treat and will long be Jremembered by the boys 
and girls of this county.— Sigourney Review, June 8th. 



110 



SCHOOL CHILDREN GUESTS 

OF AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



1,400 Excursionists From Keokuk County Spent the 
Dav in Sio-ht Seein"- at Ames. 



Unifiue Plan, Fostered by County Superintendent 
Cap E. Miller, Won Deserved Success. 



Vmes, la. .Jane3: (Special)-The State College of Agriculture 
and Mechanic Arts was host today to nearly 1,400 .boys and girls and 
men and women who came all the way from Keokuk county to visit 
the inst itution and enjoy an outing They arrived at noon and from 
thattimeon the college was at their command. Every department 
was thrown open to their inspection, and a short series of special 
lectures was given for their information and instruction on corn 
breedhi"- and seed selection, on the work of domestic economy, and 
on the modern market types of horses. Most of the visitors brought 
basket lunches and enjoyed a picnic upon the wide spreading lawns 
of the campus while the remainder were provided with ample refresh- 
ments by the college. 

This unique excursion was organized and conducted by County 
Superintendent Cap E.Miller of Keokuk county. He organized it 
for the especial benefit of the Boys' Agricultural Club and Girls' 
Home Culture Club movement, which is under splendid headway 
among the school children of his section of the state. The excursion 
was also a great plan of the college to get into close touch with the 
people. The -short courses in corn and live stock judging during the 
winter season, which brings many hundreds of young farmers to Ames 
for a couple of weeks' study, constitute one part of this plan; the 
schoolchildren excursions which are now being conducted form 
another part. 

The excursionists arrived at about noon today and returned in 
the evening. ^They were carried in two special trains over the Rock 
Island and the Northwestern systems— The Register and Leader, Des 
Moines, Iowa, June 4-, 1904. 



HI 




The Keokuks Ar;d Their Friends A3 Tbey Enter The Capitol. 



''^y'?^*"' 



112 




Eager To Visit The Capitol. 



113 




Our Luii;4' Train. 




Some Of The Keokuks Eager To Board The Motor At Ames. 




Agri&wltuial Hall As The KeoUuUs Saw It At Ames. 
A mtmh,r of views were t<(ken hif Ben Yahnl^e, Sigountey, Iowa and 
Paul Xeal, Ktnta hnra. Tim/ null sell photoyraiihsfor 15 cenfs earl,. 



Ipart 3—2=1 Scbool ffair. 

Some time last spring I sent a letter to the teachers of the 
countv asking them to plan for a school fair this fall Later a letter 
was sent to tlie boj s of the county and finally a letter was sent to the 
girls of the county and here it is: 

Sigourney. Iowa, April 28, 1904. 
To The Girls Of Keokuli County: 

Some time ago 1 sent a letter to the boys of our county and out- 
lined some work for them. Many of them have written to me telling 
me that they are following the suggestions in that outline and that 
they are interested in the work. It seems to me that girls can do 
just as much as boys and 1 am going to outline some work for them 

I want every girl in Keokuk county to plant some seeds, watch 
the plants which come from these seeds, taKe care of them, study 
them and finally take the products or fruit to her teacher who will 



115 

place these products on exhibition at a school district fair. This 
school fair will be held this fall Voiir teacher will tell you about it. 
The bi St pnuiucts will be selected and taken to a township school 
lair. Then the best products at the townsliip fair will be selected 
and placed on exhibition at a county school hiir. Your work must be 
done soon but tlie fair will not be held until fail. Your planting can 
be done at home or at school -on the farm or on the school yard. 
Some girls will plant one Ihingand some at. other. 1 don't care what you 
plant just so you plant something take care of it, watcti it and study 
it . Give special attention to lawn and garden at home and to tlie 
yard at scliool. Ask your parents for a small piece of ^^round to be 
used as a vegetable garden where vou can experiiuent and study plant 
growth. The\ will be glad to give you this ground and to know that 
you are interested in this kind of work l^eep an account of the time 
)0u W(-ik ai,id luing ^;lmples of what yon raise to the school fair. 
Wouldn'i jou like to bring to that fair some samples which would be 
of such a (luality lliat it would be taken to the township fair and 
finall} to tfie county fa rV 

1 It may be that some of the g' lis working with their teachers 
cain grow enough Howers to justify them in holding a Jlower fair this 
spring or summer. I would like to get an invitation to attend such 
a fair If you hear of one, plea.se let me know so that 1 can attend it. 
A teacher told me a few days since that she is going to hold a dower 
fair. 1 tiiink this will be grand 

Did you attend our County Girls" ConventionV Did you enjoy 
your visit here and the program? We will hold another large meet- 
ing in Sigourney Friday and Saturday, July 29 and 30. Uncle Henry 
Wallace, Prof. P. G. Plolden, J/rs. Alice Mendenhall, Mrs. Mitchell, 
Des Moines, Iowa, and Dr. A. E. Winsliip, Boston Mass will be here 
to talk to us. Dr. A. E. Winship is an excellent man and can tell us 
all about Boston and the , American poets .so many of wiiom he knew 
personally. He will give two talks. The subject of one of them will be 
"Girls, Old and Young.'" The subject of the otlier talk will be 
"Boys " This will be a great treat for all of us. 

"No nation can (ulrancc except til rouf)li ili( iinprorenunt of the na- 
tion'' s homes: and theij can onlij t)e improved titrouyh the intitrniuentality of 
worsen. Tliey must know henc to make home comfortahlr: and before they 
knmc, they muxt hart lieen taught. -Saiuuel Sviilcx 

Do you know that tlie person who won the highest lionor con- 
nected with the tri county spelling contest is a girl? Are the girls 
ahead of the boysV If you are ahead of them, stay there. Don't 
allow the boys to do more along the line of school gardens, improve- 



116 

ment of school and home surroundings than is done by the girls- 
Don't allow them to win all the honors at our school fair 

There are now 150 boys who belong to the Boys' Agriculture 
Club. Do you know that there are only 50 girls who belong to the 
Girls' Home Culture ClubV Can you do something to increase the 
number of membersV You will notice lliat the boys have just three 
times as many members as you have. They are sending me the names 
of new members every day Don't allow them to be more enthusias- 
tic In the matter than the girls. I suppose there are as many girls as 
boys in our county. 

Thus far we have ouly a county organization. We hope to have 
a township organization soon and finally a school district organization. 
Get your schoolmates to join the club. 

And don't forget the excursion to Ames, .Tune 3rd. Full in- 
formation will be sent to you soon. Some people think that this ex- 
cursion is for boys alone Tbey are mistaken. The excursion is for 
the girls just as well as for the boys, we want to start early that 
day and return that evening if possible. There will probably be 500 
or 600 boys and girls who will take advantage of the excursion, we 
will stop at Des Moines one hour or more to visit the State Capitol. 
The fare for the round trip to Ames and return will be only $2.25 for 
adults and one-half this amount for children under 12 years of age. 
we hope to start to load up at Keota— stop at Harper, Sigourney. 
Delta, At wood and Oskaloosa 

Bring your lunch baskets with you so that we can have a picnic 
breakfast, dinner and supper and so we will not have to hunt for 
something to eat. All in all it will be tne greatest 'picnic' to which 
you were ever invited. Everybody is invited to join our crowd— your 
parents, friends and neighbors. I will send you some blanks soon and 
you can have them filled out by your friends who wish to go. See how 
many of them you can get interested in the excursion 

I dont want you to be marked absent at school on account of 
this excursion and lam asking your teacher to arrange matters so 
that you will not need to miss school. In case your school does not 
close before June 3rd, your teacher should ask the board to give you 
this day as a holiday. If the board will not do this, your teacher 
ought to be willing to teach some Saturday 

I will often send you reading material. Always read it care- 
fully. Keep it and use it in the best possible way. Notice the plan 
for a school or vegetable garden which I am sending you. Get some 

seeds and follow its suggestions. 

Let me know what you are doing for the Girls' Home Culture 



117 

Club Let no g\r\ surpass you in her effort to improve school and 
home surroundings. lam 

Your friend, 

CAP E. MILLER. 

Till girls arc dnhnj htttrr noir nini their rluh uhU sooji Ihfiyi' <(s large 
a ))t?ntb(:rs]i>p as the bniis' vhih. 



Following is given a part of a letter which was sent to tlie 
teachers in regard to the school fair work. 

Get all the boys and girls interested in the matter so that each 
one will bring something to place on exhibition at the school district 
fair. Ever}' school in the county will be required to hold a district 
fair. Samples of rocks, soils, woods and minerals in your district can 
also be collected and placed on exhibition. When you hold your fair 
request a number of pupils to write papers telling what has been done 
for agriculture in your school. Have some songs, recitations and 
specimens of hand work ready for your fair. It might be well, also, 
to have some of your pupils write compositions on "'Our Escursion to 
Ames" for I am sure that some of your pupils will go to Ames June 
3rd. If your flowers and flower gardens and school garden.s itre a suc- 
cess this spring it might be well for you to hold a spring fair. Get all 
of the people in your community interested in the matter. It is 
practical and they will take hold of it. 

Ask your pupils to draw a map of the district locating every 
farm, road, creek, woodland any other things of general interest. Ask 
them to And dimensions of houses, barns, corn cribs and other build- 
ings in the district and cost of each: number of acres of different 
kinds of grain sown in the district each year: how much pasture land 
there is in the district: how much meadow: how many trees are 
growing in the district — kind and for what purposes they are used: 
make a record of the number of animals in the district— horses, cows, 
sheep and poultry in all varieties— give value of each and of all: make 
a record of stock sold during a given time, of eggs and various pro- 
ducts sold during a given time: number of citizens, voters and school 
children in the district: what help is employed in the different kinds 
of labor and what price is paid for such labor. Let all of this mater- 
ial serve to add interest and profit to the school fair and agricultural 
work. 

'•rncle Henry"' Wallace read the letter which was sent to the 
girls of the county and this is what he says about it: 

This is teaching agriculture in i >ie public school on right lines. 



118 

If the superintendents in the state wake up and follow the example 
before the next legislature meets agriculture will be taught in the 
most effective way possible in every county in the state. Agriculture 
in the public schools will come in not as something from the outside, 
as information poured irjto the boys, or pounded into them, or cram- 
med into them, but as something from witliin. the boj's and girls 
naturally taking hold and obtaining the lirst rudiments of agricul- 
ture in the only way in which they can be taught effectively, and 
that is by tlie boys and girls themselves. 

We regard tt'is movement as one of the most hopeful signs of 
the times and if it is introduced in other counties In Iowa and other 
states, it will be but a few years until the agriculture of the west 
will be revolutionized and tltese states be in advance of any other 
states in the union and of any country in the world- We can not 
recommend this moveiru-nt too Lighly. — Wallace Farmer, >jay 13th. 



H Scboo( jfalr. 

It is the intention to hold a school fair in ITedrick tnis fall, at 
whicli products will \tv. exliiViited of tfie raising of the students of the 
schools All gr.ides ;i.re eligible to contest. The best specimens will 
be sliowii at a township fair, nod later at a county fair to beheld this 
fall —The Iledrick .Journal The Iledrick pupils are very aiuch in- 
terested in this fair ;uid Miss liryant tells me that specimens of sew- 
ing and cooking will be included in the exhibit. 

We are very much mterested in tlu^ Fair and are going to try 
our luck — Lillie Long. Pupil in District No. .5,- Lancaster township. 

Many of my pupils are getting interested and I think they will 
have some specimens for tlie exliibit this fall akthub davis 

The nnprovement of the scliool grounds i« very cio.^eiy connec- 
ted with agriculture. On May 21, 1901, 1 asked all of the teachers 
to answer tlie following r|uestions for me in the following order: 

(1) What did you do Arbor Day? 

(2) What are you doing to get- your pupils intererest in the 
school fair? 

(3) Plow many persons in vour district will go to Acaes June 
3rdV 

(4) Remarks, 

Below are given tlie answers from a number of teachers. Please 
read them if you liave ti-me. 

Made two flower beds, one vegetable garden and went to the 
woods to get a tree. The school fair is a good thing and I am doing 



:ai9 

r, all I can to make it a success. 1 Ella Klbinsciimidt 

Planted (lowers and trees. Have talked with the pupils con- 
cerninj,^ the object of such a fair and the value of this kind of educa- 
tion. 4 The children are very much interested in tiieir s'ardens 
and like the idea of a scliool fair very much. Adella Priest. 

Made three flower gardens. All pupils have planted something 
and are very much interested in the work for a fair. 

Berenice Wade 

Raked the school grounds and prepared mounds for plants. Try- 
ing to get pupils to feel that it will be of much benefit as well as 
pleasure to work for the fair. Addie Bales. 

Cleaned school yard and planted flower seeds. Have lessons in 
nature study. 6. Ada Coffman. 

We set out 40 trees and shrubs, made Hower beds and had a 
good program Pup Is are planning to raise a number of products. 4. 

Zi a Goodhart 

We c-eaned tie yard. We are trying to raise an exhibit. 15 

Josephine Miller 

We had a good program and planted some vines We have 
same potted plants in the room, a wild flower garden and another 
bed planted with flower seeds. Elva Downing. 

Planted trees. Pupils are cultivating different kinds of flowers 
and plants at home and at school. Si'sie Lahr 

Planted small trees, flower bushes and seeds. All have planted 
something. 7. The pupils desire a beautiful school lawn. 

Flora Mohme 

Planted shrubs and flowers Have told pupils how to plant 
seeds for a garden . Lizzie Vanauken. 

We had appropriate exercises, made (lower beds and set out 
plants. Have asked each pupil to raise something arid bring to the 
fair and nearly all of them are doing the work Kate Wood 

Made flower l)eds. Some are planting vegetables, others (lowers. 

Lillian Harlan 

Planted trees and rose buslies. Making preparations for the 
fair and are very much interested in the (lowers we have planted. 

Eva Dansdill. 

Planted five trees and several shrubs. We have a flower garden 
and a vegetable garden at school, and the children have gardens at 
home. Minnie Strohmann. 

Planted (j trees, S shrubs and made a flower garden, Pupils 
are making vegetable gardens at home. 7. Every one of the pupils 
is entliusiastic in regard to the planting done. Sophia Strohmann. 

Planted window garden My pupils are mainng favorable re- 
ports of their work done. :i We are planting late flowering plants 
and planning to have the flower and school fair together. 

CtUssie Sonner. 

Planted a tree and some shrubs and held a program. We have 
gardens on schoolground. Pupils are making a collection of woods 
and rocks for the fair. Each pupil has a garden at home. 9. The 
children are taking a great deal of interest in the fair. Almost every 
one has planted the seeds of product^ which he or she intends to ex- 
hibit at the fair. ^ ■ -■ .■ Pearl Scott. 



120 

Planted 5 trees, 4 varieties of roses, 1 lilac and a lily. By try- 
ing to help them select things to plant and care for. May Rogers. 

We made garden and flower beds and held a program. Reading 
and talking to their about it, 8. My pupils seem to be very much 
interested in the school fair and in the excursion to Ames. 

Maud Wilson. 

Raked the yard and planted tjowers. I am talking and helping 
the pupils plan for the fair. 5. Mamie Claraiian. 

Talked about trees and gardens. Making vegetable gardens at 
home, tlower gardens at school. 8 Maggie Doxova.n. 

Set out shrubbery, made a tlower garden and had a program. 
Have told pupils to plant seeds and prepare for the fair. 20 will go to 
Ames H. P. Trumbo. 

We planted trees shrubs and seeds. Each pupil has the care of 
some plant which will be at the close of the term 3. My pupils 
take much interest in improving school grounds and are anxiously 
waiting for June 3rd. Katie Clarahan. 

The above are only a few of the reports sent to me by the 
teachers of the county. The number is large enough to show you 
that the teachers of our county are trying to improve the school sur- 
roundings, to make them more beautiful and attractive and home 
like. 



H Xetter. 

B<doic is (jircii a jxtrlof ii letter nreired from a teacher. It has the 
riijld spirit. 

"Our directors are all right . They purchased some new supplies, 
cleaned the house and yards last week and are ready for a good 
school. I hope they will not be disappointed," 

Iprogrees. 

''The pupils and I have cleaned the schoolyard. We set out 
roses of four colors, two kinds of lillies, one flowering almond, one 
lilac and some other house plants The pupils take great delight in 
the work " 

I\ Scbool li)arD. 

We cleaned otT our schoolyard and planted flowers and set out 

some bushes. The directors have put a new fence around the school- 
yard and it looks better now.— Master Loyd Strohmann, District No. 
6. Warren Township. 

flowers. 
We are going to have some beautiful flowers some of these days. 
The pupils seem eager to take part in anything of this kind. 

Arthur Davis. 

ibow H Scboo] ©rows. 
Out in Xo. 4 Washington township the school last winter con- 
tained three pupils and a Nickle for a teacher. This spring the 
school has increased to eight pupils and a Schilling for a teacher. 
That school is prospering both numerically and financially.— Sigour- 
ney Review 

A number of our boys have entered the Wallace corn contest 
and hope to secure some of the prizes offered. 



121 



Our leacliers have read and made fjood use of the siipfgestions 
offered in the follow ill 14- pamphlets; 'Tiie Scliooi (Jardeti," "Tree 
Planting On Rmal School (J loiiud" ;tnd "I'rimer Of fc'orestry" fur- 
nished free to tl mm b} the U S l>epartment ol' Ajiriculture: "Ih>w 
To Set Out Trees And Shrubbery" and "Ideal Sclioois" were sent to 
them free of cost by the Youth's Companion, Boston. Mass 



H>art 4-71 Fatmcio' Knstltute. 

Many counties in our state have organized farmers' institnics 
where farmers come together at laast once in a year for mui iial help 
and improvement Our legislators realized that Jowa is an afiiicui- 
tural state when they voted for a law which provides for a fiirmurs' 
institute and which gives $75 for the support, of such an itisi it ul*' in 
each county each year. Many counties have taUen advantage of this 
law bur. Keokuk county has not The farmers of our coutitv have 
been taking groat interest in ttu^ meet.iugs of our 1 \v(t new oigani/.a- 
tions and in the work which these l)oys a. id girls are doing They 
went to Ames with us ari(i were pie.-t.scd w^th tlM; excursion in every 
way. They say it is remarkable that so many could -o to Amos on ar» 
excursion ;ind no one get hurt and th.it trie visit to Ame.'; was such 
an education for them A innabei <>'' them say that they are j.'Oing 
again when they will remain one week or lon^^er. They are anxious 
to get i?j touch with the great experiment station. A number of 
them told me that they were ready to organize a farmers' institute 
and accordingly notices were sent to a number of energetic farm- 
ers in each township of the county and a meeting was held in this of- 
fice at 2 o'clock p. m.. Fridajs June 24, for the purpose of forming a 
temporary organization for a Keokuk County Farmers' Institute It 
rainsd that day but nineteen farmers met and formed a temporary 
orffankation for said institute. They will meet July 29th and .30th 
to form a. permanent organization. They will liave a number of 
prominent and able men and women on their program. They hope to 
secure the help of the president of the Iowa Corn Growers' Associa- 
tion, Prof. P. G. Holden and "Uncle Henry'' Wallace. 

TK MPOKAllY 01< r ICJSllS. 

President J . W . Lemley, Richland, Iowa 

Secretary Ceorge Barnhart, South EnglisJi, Iowa 

( Cap K Miller, Sigovirney. Jowa 

Executive Committee ' < L. Jieall, Sigourney. K 1, Iowa 

l*\ IJolmes. Keota. Jowa 



Unstnictorg. 

FIRST WEEK. 

DR. A. K WIXSHIP - Boston, Mass. 

(reneial Metliods. 

Mrs H ATT IE M. MITCHELL - - Des Moines, Iowa 

Pi-imarv Methods and Nature Study. 

MANNING JAYNES ^ - Iowa City, Iowa 

Grammar 
W H GEMMILL - - - - " Dallas Center, Iowa 

Mathematics 

C. E. HUMPHREYS - Delta, Iowa 

Physics. 
Mrs RETTA MINTEER - - - - - Sigourney, Iowa 

Vocal Music. 

SECOND "SVEEK. 

ORVILLE T. BRIGHT Chicago, 111 • 

Englisli. 
Mrs ALICE H. MENDENHALL - - - South English, Iowa 
Reading and Literature / 

W.H. GEMMILL Dallas Center 

Hand- Book. 
T M CLEVENGER ...--- Mediapolis, Iowa 

School Law and Civics 
MANNING JAYNES ------ Iowa City, Iowa 

Pliysiology. 

Mrs RETTA MINTEER Signurney, Iowa 

A'ocal Music 

Evening Scseionf. 

MniKldi/. J III II ,'.-. ^ „T. , • 

Lecture - - - - ~ , - ,r Dr. A. E \^ inship 

'•Soloist And Lsader 

Tiiesdaih J^'^'J ~^- „,. . . 

Lecture - ~ " ' Dr. A. E, Winship 

•'The Reign Of The Common People*' 

Lecture - - '. - - ' , .p. . .. P^of. A. N. Palmer 

"Some Practical Things 
Thnrsdaii. Jiihl :.'S. 
Historical Contest And Common School Commencement. 
Tni'sdiii/. All Hst ^ . 
County Declamatory Contest. 

Wedni'i'diii]. Augmt 3 ^ „ . ^.^ 

Lecture ----'-- - - O. T. Bright 

"Tuskegeeand Booker T. Washington" 
Ffidniu Aiujust :> 
Institute Commencement „ ^ „ „ 

Lecture -------- Pi'ot F. E. Bolton 

••Mental Independence Versus Servility" 
Fifty cenl>< iciU he ckarytd for the above course o,t entertainments to 
those who enroll and one dollar to all other persons 



The School Teachers* Creed. 

I believe in boys and girls, the men and 
women of a great tomorrow; that whatsoever 
the boy soweth the man shall reap. I believe 
in the curse of ignorance, in the efficac}' of 
schools, in the dignity of teaching, and in the 
joy of serving others. I believe in wisdom as 
revealed in human lives as well as in the pages 
of a printed book; in lessons taught, not so 
much by precept as by example; in ability to 
work with the hands as well as to think with 
the head; in everything that makes life large 
and lovely. I believe in beauty in the school 
room, in daily life and in out-of-doors. I be- 
lieve in laughter, in love, in faith, in all ideals 
and distant hopes that lure us on. I believe 
that every hour of every day we receive a just 
reward for all we are and all we do. I believe 
in the present and its opportunities, in the 
future and its promises and in the divine joy of 
living. Amen. 

— Edwin Osgood Grover. 

By pcrniission of Alfred Barthtt. Boston, Mass. 



©reeting. 

To The Keokuk Counfcy Teachers: 

If 1 were to write another chapter for this booklet, its subject 
would be General Progress and in tlie discussion of that subject I 
would show in many ways tiuit there has been an improvement in the 
teaching- force of our county. Tliere is no one thin^? whicii has done 
more for this improvement than the annual institute and the one this 
year will be of unusual interest and profit to all who attend. And 
you will not be "up to date" in Keokuii county if you do not attend, 
if you want to know what to do next year and how to do it, attend 
the institute and the instructors will give you this information. 

I am 
Yours truly, 

CAPE. MILLER. 



JExamlnations. 

Examinations, as has been the custom for a number of years, 
will be given before the institute proper. 

Normal graduates who enroll and attend all the recitatiens as- 
signed them, and who have shown a progressive spirit during the past 
year, will be excused from the examination in all the branches cover- 
ed by their certiticates, if the grades on their certificates meet the 
requirements for a first class certificate. 

Other teachers who atrtend institute will be excused from the 
examination in those branches the grades of which are 88 per cent or 
above on their last certiticates. 

Teachers who do not attend the in.stitute will be required to 
take the entire examination. ♦ 

Examinations will be given Thursday, Friday and Saturday- 
July 21, 22 and 23. All applicants for certificates must appear at 
schedule time. It will be necessary for us to follow some uniform 
order. The following has been arranged. 

TJmrxdafi Afteninon. Juh/ Jl. 

2:00—2:30 Orthography. .2:30— 4:00. .Reading. .4.00— fi:00. . . .Geography 

Friday, Julij 22. 
FORENOON AFTERNOON. 

8:00—12:00 Algebra 1:00—3:30. . .Economics 

8:00—10:30 History 1:00—4:30. . .Arithmetic 

10:30-12:00 Physiology 4:30— 6:00.. Penmanship 

Saturdaij, Juhj 23. 

8:00—10:30 Grammar 1.00— 2:30 Vocal Music 

8:00—10:30 Physics 

10:30—12:00 Didactics 

10:30—12:00 Civics 



Certificates 

Two kinds of certiticates will be issued:— 

First Grade Certiticates, good for two .\ears. will be issued to 
teachers wiio have had thirty-six weei<s" successful experience and 
who make an avemge of 92 per cent witii no grade below 86 per cent 
in algebra, civics, physics and economics, in addition to the common 
branches. 

Second Grade Certiticates. good for seven raontlis, will be issued 
to applicants who make an average of 8« per cent with no grade be- 
low 80 per cent in orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, geo- 
graphy, grammar, physiology, U. S. history, didactics and vocal 
music. 



Classification. 

Try to be a teacher so far as scholarsliip is concerned when you 
come to the institute. Select that work which will be of the most 
benefit to you next year. 



jentollmcnt. 

The time to enroll will be from 2:3) to (i p. m.. Saturday, July 
23 anu from l:Ou to 2:00 p. m . iMonday. July 25. 



IRecitalions. 

The regular recitations will begin the Mrs; day of the institute 
at 7:50 a. m. 



State bleachers' IReaDinc? Circle. 

The Reading Circle year begins with the institute and the 
pourse includes the following books: 

Sabin's Common Sense Didactics $1.00, 

Small and Vincent's Study of Society $l,0o, 

Sheldon's Old Testament Bible Stories $l,uii, 

These books deserve your careful consideration and It will pai^. 
all teachers to become members of the Reading Circle. Any leaph^^ 
who is not now enrolled will please send for a blank enrollment sl^p pr. 
ask for It at institute time, till it out and tile with the county super- 
intendent. 

Wm. Weller, Sigourney, Iowa, lias these books for sale. 

An examination will be given to those teachers vvhQ wisli credit 
for work done in this course during the past year- 



(3eneral 1?emarlt0. 

No excuse can be a substitute for work which is not done 

Enroll promptly. 

Bring your last certificate with you. 

Bring this institute announcement with you. 

Bring your copy of the Manual For Iowa Normal Institutes 
with you. The outlines found in it will be used by a number of the 
instructors. If you do not have a copy of this manual, ask the county 
superintendent tor one. 

C. A. Fullerton's book will be used in the music classes. 

The teachers will not be required to do much study outside of 
the class recitation and by this arrangement they will find time to 
attend the evening lectures. 

Prof. A. N. Palmer will talk to the teachers about practical 
writing, July 27. lie will give a lecture that night. 

All school interested persons are cordially invited to visit the 
institute whenever they can find time to do so. School officers are es- 
pecially urged to visit the institute and to inspect the work of teach- 
ers and instructors. 



DtgtoricaKJonteet anC» Common Scbool Commencement— ^uIk 28, 

]964. 
PROGRAM 7:45 p. M. 

Four pupilfi tr'>»i nind schouh and four from graded schools will 
take part iu thi.'< contest. A gold medal will Ite given to the pupil who receives 
first place as a result of the contest and a silver medal will he given to the 
pupil who receives second place. A perfect record will .show .50 per cent for 
thought and composiiion and f>0 per cent for delivery. 

The fifty-five pupils who passed the common school examina- 
tion successfully will received their diplomas at this time. 

Music, 

OUle Delano Starr 

Jjiberty Township , Sylvia Blaylock 

Pelta ,,, ,... , Mabel Hankins 

Warren Township ,.,,, Eva Allsup 

Music 

Kinross Agnes Hurd 

Lafayette Township Lloyd Fry 

Thornburg Carleton Hamilton 

Richland Township Orla Chacey 

Music. 
Presentation of Diplomas..,,.,,,., ,..,.,,, pr, A. f^f Wioghip 

Depision of Judges- 



E 

meeting ®f Zbe Ikeohuhs— 5ul\> 29 anD 30, I9O4. 

Two days of the institue will be turned over to tlie boys and 
girls wlio are members of the two new organizations. The program 
is not yet completed bi.t will be something like the following; 

FRIDAY MORNING 

"Farmers' Institutes'" Fred McCulloch. Hartwick, Iowa 

Mr. MrCuUorh lii(-< (in/niiizrd thr- cntiiiii fann'i:<' iH>ifitutesi)t loini. 

"Boys" Dr. A. E. Winshlp 

"What School Girls Can Do" Mrs. H. M. Mitchell 

FRIDAY AFTERNOON 

"Girls— Old and Young" Dr. A. E. Winship 

"Some Things About Farming" Speaker To Be Selected 

FRIDAY NIGHT 

"The Common School and Agriculture" Speaker To Be Selected 

"More Corn Of Better Quality,— The Acre Our Unit" 

W H. Warburton, Independence, Iowa 

Prcakleiit of the I(>w<i C'nni Groirers' Asssociafion. 

SATURDAY FORENOON 

"Dairying" — H. R Wright, Des Moines, Iowa 

St(tU' Dairy (y»n7nh'<,'<i<n>er. 

A number of speakers will talk concerning the organization of 
farmers' institutes in our state. 

SATITRDAY AFTERNOON 

"Domestic Science and Home for Girls". . . Mrs. Alice H.Mendenhall 
"Good Literature in the Home" Mrs. D. T. Stockman 

Every person living in Keokuk county is invited to attend tlie 
program which will continue for two days. It will be free to every 
body. It will be one of the greatest edcuational meetings ever held 
in the county because never before did the boys and girls, the 
teachers and the farmers meet together for a great countu institute . 
Indeed it will be a teachers' institute, a pupils' institute and a far- 
mers' Institute combined. 

The four boys from German township will sing and play for us 
and music and reading of various kinds will be added to each .session 
of the meeting to make it agreeable and protitable to all who attend. 



Declamatory? dontest— August 2, 1904. 

One repreneidatve from ererti grnded school in the countfi inll he allowed to 
tdki part ill tlie contest. 

"Mrs. Smart Learns How To Skate Hazel Bottentield, Webster 

Selected Viola Oster, Hedrick 

"The Wrong Train" Dott Smith, Gibson 

•I Vash So Glad I Vash Here Tonight"' Mable Jones, Richland 

'The Lost Heir" '. .V . .' , Etta Axmear, Kewick 



"A Little Brick" Irma Loftus, Delta 

"Uncle Daniel" Agnes Hurd, Kinross 

■'Reminiscences Of Exhibition Day" Maude Erdice, Keota 

•'Brnncho Against Bicycle" Stanley C Shrader, Thornburg 

IFnstitutc Claee ©f 1904. 



Teachers who wish to graduate must hold tirst grade certifi- 
cates. They must attend the institute regularly and must hand in 
an oration not later than the second Monday oi the session. Teach- 
ers who wish to graduate should notify the county superintendent at 
once. Commencement exercises will be held in the high school build- 
ing Friday evening, August 5. 

Tlie three special music teachers of our county — Miss Blanche 
Stewart, Keota: Mrs. N. B. Spafard, Hedrick; Mrs. Eetta Minteer, 
Sigourney— will have charge of the music for this evening. 

PROGKAM 7:.30 F. M 

Vocal Solo • Miss Blanche Stewart 

Music Hedrick Pupils 

Music Sigourney Pupils 

Vocal Solo Mrs. N. B. Spafard 

Music Keota Pupils 

Lecture— 'Mental Independence Versus Servility" 

Dr F. E. Bolton, Iowa City, Iowa 

Music Hedrick Pupils 

Vocal Solo Mrs. Retta Minteer 

Music Keota Pupils 

( Mrs. Minteer 
Trio ■ Mrs. Spafard 

( Miss Stewart 

Music Sigourney Pupils 

Presentation of Diplomas 

Chorus Sigourney, Keota and Hedrick Pupils 



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